J LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.! 

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I *&%*// mm I 

t — * 

: .! STATES OF AMERICA.! 



. 






NQN SPIEITITS. 



THE 



PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITUALISM 



BT 



Eev. THOMAS MITCHELL, 

ft ' 



Ol 



-A.IL.B^IN'Y, 3S\ Y. 



AUTHOR OF 




44 The Philosophy of God and the World;" "The 
Old Paths; " " Voices from Paradise," a Poem. 



PRINTED BY 

WEED, PARSONS AND COMPANY, 
Albany, N. Y. 

1872. 






&* 



Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year eighteen 
hundred and seventy-two, 

By Rev. THOMAS MITCHELL, 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



WEED, PARS0N8 AND COMPANY, 

1' ULSTERS AND STEREOTYPERS, 

ALBANY, N. Y. 



PEEFACE. 



Since the close of the late debate held at Martin 
Hall, during the three successive evenings, between 
Dr. Dunn, of Chicago, and myself, I have been re- 
quested by so many friends, and others with whom 
I was previously unacquainted, but who attended 
the discussion, to publish my views in a book upon 
this subject, and who gave it as their opinion that, 
not only enough would be immediately sold to 
meet the expense incurred, but who would also to 
this extent personally interest themselves, and, 
therefore, the book is before the public. Indeed, I 
have been astonished at the intensity of the interest 
our citizens have manifested in the subject by sim- 
ply this one effort in meeting the defenders of 
spiritualism in public debate ; and if I had under- 
stood this before I would have arranged for six 
nights instead of three, and doubt not but that 
Dr. Dunn would have been glad to have consented, 
as he was purposely led to believe that he would 
obtain an easy victory over his antagonist. 

It is not to be wondered at that so many of our 
people have become affected with the mania of 
spiritualism to that degree that many of them have 
left the Christian church. They have honestly 



s PREFACE. 

asked those from whom they might have reason- 
ably hoped for that information which would en- 
able them to solve these strange manifestations, 
but without success. Here are facts, say they, 
which cannot be disputed, and if it is not the work 
of spirits, what is it? — receiving no satisfactory 
response, indeed, often denial and denunciation, 
and so they have turned away, as strange as it may 
appear, to the spirits of the dead for light, " seek- 
ing for the living among the dead." 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. PAGE. 

The subtlety of the subject; its importance; we have not been pre- 
mature; never been impartially considered; involves the highest 
Shilosophy; the spirit regions; spiritualism purely scientific; the 
lible invites investigation; revealed and natural truth harmonize; 
these phenomena not the work of trick ; mundane locality of knowl- 
edge must first be exhausted; the standard of truth not to be low- 
ered ; man " fearfully and wonderfully made ; " natural causes for 
all physical phenomena 1-15 

CHAPTER II. 

Approximate elucidation, all that reason requires; first argument, 
cause and effect; philosophy of matter; electricity matter; specific 
gravity; an objection answered; no medium between matter and 
immateriality; law of physical motion; the law of physical impres- 
sion; electricity the agent of mind; spirits cannot move tables; they 
cannot come back ; human capacity must be known ; a task imposed ; 
present knowledge of mental philosophy imperfect; absurd attitude 
of spiritualism; Judge Edmonds investigates its philosophy; learns 
from a medium that it is by natural law ; odic force ; he dismisses 
the subject and flies to spirits 15-34 

CHAPTER III. 

Connection of brain and mind ; objection answered; cerebellum source 
of vital motion ; cerebrum source of voluntary motion ; electricity 
the mind's agency; objection answered; higher connecting links of 
intelligence; electricity in the human system and nature the same; 
volition of one man passes to another; tables moved by vacuum; 
the electric law applies to all minds; objection; it is working mira- 
cles; mediums and their development 34-54 

CHAPTER IV. 

Diogenes and Alexander; these spirits cannot be happy: reasons 
why they do not progress; kept in perpetual locomotion; the 
philosophy of a vacuum; electricity pervades all nature; why 
houses are haunted ; how to cure the evil ; English and American 
witchcraft explained 54-64 

CHAPTER V. 

Characteristics of truth; mediums mesmeric subjects; degree of its 
susceptibility; strange effects; writing mediums ; relation of medi- 
ums to those in their presence; reason of their mistakes; their 
composition; Dr. Bell's experiments; why the subject should be 
investigated 64-73 

CHAPTER VI. 

A clergyman experiments; the spirits confused; reason why; sophis- 
try of spiritualists exposed; spirits know what the questioner 
knows; compositions of the dead; course of Dr. Bell and Judge 
Edmonds contrasted; friends of the Bible must take thetield; hu- 
man intelligence comes through the physical organs of sense 73-62 

CHAPTER VII. 

Illustration of this principle ; blind mediums ; all natural attributes 
essential to make man what he is; sound; mental communication 
by mere act of will; motion of intervening elements. 82-88 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VIII. P ^ 0K - 

This principle natural and controlled by the will; our own experi- 
ments- mind reading; intelligent impressions conveyed; that it was 
by spirits proved erroneous: the power of mind; reading tested; 
remarkable instance ; its philosophy; a new mode of telegraphing; 
value of the discovery; the art illustrated; mental impressions 
physical; illustrated by memory ; objection met 88-101 

CHAPTER IX. 

Nothing is forgotten ; popular warfare against truth and new discov- 
eries • the present age culpable ; honorable exceptions ; independent 
investigation; the wonders of the human mind; permanent im- 
pressions illustrated; Daguerre's art described; corresponds with 
the human eye and brain; receivability of the mind; electricity 
contains the coloring matter of all nature 101-110 

CHAPTER X. 

Mental structure superior ; velocity of thought ; motion of the brain 
in mental exercise ; how to test it; essential to life; the science of 
optics; inversion of objects struck on the brain; the philosophy of 
camera obscura of the artist explains 110-115 

CHAPTER XL 

Comparison between the artist's machine and mind ; why the mind is 
superior; negative and positive in electrics explains mind-reading; 
the distance in communicating ; an instance ; negative and positive 
ditfer in quantity and quality 115-118 

CHAPTER XII. 

Witch of Endor ; ancient spiritualism superior ; suppressed by divine 
statutes; Saul goes by night; bring me up Samuel the prophet; 
effect upon Saul; magnetic impression explains it; the Chaldean 
king skeptical; the name not necessary to be known; Saul's extrem- 
ity; his mind easy to be read; Saul's first circle ; Saul not a medium ; 
the spiritualist confirms Saul's anticipations ; reads them from his 
brain ; he commits suicide to fulfill the witch prediction 118-124 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Ancient and modern spiritualism the same; why called familiar ; that 
it supersedes further use for the Bible ; why the spirits of Payne, 
Voltaire and Volney should oppose it; civilization and the Bible; 
spirit rappings and the savage; why infidels embrace it; who are its 
standard writers; the theory forbids association in the other state. . 124-133 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Ideas of a future world corruptions of revelation; its elements of a 
future world ; Christ degraded by the spiritualists ; its doctrines those 
of heathenism; more degrading ; offers no restraints to human pas- 
sion 133-141 

CHAPTER XV. 

The moral law of Jesus; modern spiritualism subject of prediction; 
why it spreads so fast; absurdity of letting it alone; the remedy; 
their views of a future state: that which dies is dead forever; denies 
the resurrection; the foundation truth of Christianity; Christ not 
dead; lie is the Almighty; objection met 141-161 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Thll Blngularjpower natural; why once prohibited; the principle of 
cur.-; miracles illustrated; philosophy of colds; all diseases thus 
may result ; why? how this art cures diseases: inflammation; palsy; 
examination ol diseases by mediums; the principle; easier than to 
re. id the brain; the people want light 161-168 



CHAPTEE I. 

MAN; THE UNREAD VOLUME. 

It is no small degree of timidity we have had to over- 
come in consenting, in this public manner, to consider a 
subject so marvelously strange and incomparably wonder- 
ful as that tacitly called spiritualism. This arises from 
the fact that the investigation is necessarily confined to 
those philosophic principles of nature's works character- 
ized by the most delicate and subtle profundity of all her 
magnificent arrangement, and nothing but a superlative 
regard for humanity, civilization and the eternal interests 
of the revealed religion of the Bible , has induced us to 
make the present effort, all of which are being stripped of 
their vitalizing power by the untenable theories attempted 
to be vindicated by the mysterious exhibitions of spiritual- 
ism. Entertaining, therefore, such views, it would be un- 
reasonable to suppose that the subject does not assume (at 
least in our own estimation) an importance commensurate 
with its complexibility. 

With whatever else we may be charged by those with 
whom the views we have to present in this book must 
necessarily bring us in contact, that of being premature 
we shall certainly escape. The egotistical challenge of the 
spiritualists to meet them in discussion has been borne on 
the wings of every wind, and characterized, too, by as 
much confidence as though there was but one side sus- 
ceptible of vindication to the questions which are here in- 
volved, and that, that these phenomena find no other ade- 
quate causes, as their origin, but the intervention of the 
spirits of the departed dead. 



8 

We have looked with no small degree of solicitude, ever 
since the memorable period of the first Rochester rap, for 
some one to give this subject an impartial investigation, 
and thus be prepared to furnish the world with a philo- 
sophical and tangible solution of the questions involved in 
these phenomena, but in vain. It is true, that some scat- 
tered fragments of such a theory have made their appear- 
ance in the form of newspaper items, and some volumes 
have also been published, purporting to contain the desira- 
ble information; but so far have all these come from 
accomplishing this object, that it is no marvel the spirit- 
ualists should still consider themselves masters of the 
field. In this discussion, we shall endeavor to avoid, as 
far as possible, in a subject of such a nature, the introduc- 
tion of abstruse metaphysical deductions and abstract ex- 
tenuations, the tendency of which being only to confuse 
and mystify any subject whatever, and especially one like 
that under consideration, whose very existence depends 
upon those philosophical laws and principles of organic 
nature which occupy the transition point between vitality 
and dead matter, — motion and inertia, animal life and 
intelligence, — in a word, between mind and gross matter. 
Confined in this investigation, therefore, to this highest 
department of nature's wonderful works, if we succeed, to* 
the satisfaction of ordinary minds, in exposing the sophis- 
try and false philosophy which the advocates of spiritual- 
ism have thrown around it, and reduce the phenomena 
here involved from their metaphysical altitude to that 
compressible level, so that its truths may be appreciated, 
we say, that if we thus succeed, the achievement will be 
of the most gratifying character, of any thing allied with 
the present state of things, and we flatter ourselves that 
such will be the case, to no inconsiderable extent, and that, 
too, with those minds possessing such proclivities which 
seem to almost impel them to stand eagerly on the alert 
for the transportation or development of things strange 



and marvelous, and which forever inclines them to pass 
rapidly and superficially over facts and principles, and to 
delve us egregiously into the unfathomable abyss of mys- 
ticism and incomprehensibility. In this discussion we 
have endeavored, how successfully our readers must 
judge, to hold our opponents, although spirit-winged, to 
the rational of nature's works, and to avoid being con- 
ducted by them into the giddy regions of etherialization ; 
feeling that, within her laws and principles alone, human 
discussionists are responsible for their assumptions and 
utterances. As we consider this subject one purely of 
philosophy, and therefore looking exclusively to the laws- 
of natural science for its proofs and illustrations entirely- 
disconnected with theology, we have therefore avoided its 
introduction as a principle in this discussion, and we shall 
only present one argument at the close of the volume, to 
prove that the theory of a future state held by familiar 
spiritualism is so antagonistic to that of Christianity, that 
by receiving the one, the other must be abandoned. Not, 
however, that we entertain the least fear for that system 
of revealed religion contained in the Bible by such a con- 
tact, for, after having devoted years of impartial study to 
the investigation of its principles, we have been driven 
to the conclusion that that book justly claims the same 
author as He, who, from chaotic night and elementary 
confusion, formed the grand superstructure of universal 
nature, both of which reveal the priority of His existence,, 
the illimitableness of His perfections, and the almighty- 
power of His attributes, and we therefore have no hesita- 
tion in asserting that there is not one truth within the 
vast profundity of the works of nature which is suscepti- 
ble of demonstration, but which is also in the most beauti- 
ful harmony with that truth, if it is made a subject of 
revelation; indeed, we may say that the combination of 
these two sources of truth form but its melodious har- 
mony which forever chime to their immortal Author's 



10 

praise, without one discordant note to mar the melody or 
hush the eternal song. 

That these phenomena are to be attributed to the jug- 
glering work of adroit tricksters in the art of legerdemain, 
in our opinion, is too absurd to merit even a passing 
remark, and we ask no share in the encomiums, either 
morally or intellectually, which will be awarded him who 
said, " wherever there was a rap, there was also a rogue," 
by those men of veracity and intellect, who have impartially 
investigated them, and afterward declared, both publicly 
and privately, that they exist where trick is an impossi- 
bility ; such sayings only serve to expose the mental weak- 
ness of those who give them utterance, though we are 
aware that this is often done upon the principle, and for 
the same reason, that others pursue in assigning these 
manifestations to the spirits of the departed dead, namely, 
ignorance of their true origin. 

The position which we assume, and which we propose 
to defend in this discussion, is, that the phenomena of 
spiritualism are produced by the minds of those individu- 
als who are supposed to be mediums, in connection with 
the minds of others sympathetically associated with them, 
acting reciprocally through the physical laws of human 
and organic intelligence. Before entering immediately on 
the discussion of this position, we wish to make "a few 
remarks ; and first, it is indispensably necessary, in order 
to ascertain the capabilities of the human mind, intellectu- 
ally, morally and physically, that a philosophic and scien- 
tific knowledge of these several departments of its nature, 
should be in the possession of any mind, or order of minds, 
to endow it or them with such a qualification. That any 
fragment of mortality should suppose he had arrived at 
Buch a summit, and had accomplished this transcendent 
achievement, none but the most giddy egotist or superficial 
Bpeculator would have the presumption to maintain. In- 
deed, there is no principle which the really intelligent are 



11 

more ready to concede than that no class of beings, how- 
ever high they may be ranked in its scale, or however 
rapid has been their progressive ascent in the acquisition 
of knowledge, than that there are none who are fully com- 
petent to comprehend, in all its relationship, possession, 
adaptation and manifestation, the phenomena exemplified 
in their own individual nature. If, therefore, contempla- 
tive minds, after having devoted their lives to such pro- 
found investigations, and, after all, have been constrained 
to make this concession, how arrogant and unenviable 
must those appear who assume to set the most circum- 
scribed limits to the natural powers and capabilities of the 
God-like mind, which the spiritualists do, by ascribing any 
extraordinary manifestation, with which it is operatively 
connected, to the agency of supernatural existences, such 
as angels — devils — and the spirits of the departed dead. 
But we hold it to be at least superfluous to attempt to fol- 
low these ethereal adventurers into the unexplored scenes 
of futurity, and choose rather to confine ourselves to the 
substantial laws entering into the structure of this mundane 
locality of ours, within whose vast circumference, and pro- 
found depth, human reason, in its most lofty aspirations, 
may forever revel in its highest flights of capability with- 
out having drained but the fewest drops from its limitless 
ocean, or collected so many pebbles from the number 
which forms its mighty shore. If we succeed in pursuing 
this course, we shall not be very likely of falling into the 
too common error, especially in regard to subjects like 
that under consideration, of first becoming bewildered our- 
selves, and then, as? a natural consequence, confuse and 
befog the minds of those who may attempt to follow our 
devious pathway. We are aware that this subject will be 
comparatively uninteresting to many, but this is insepara- 
ble from the philosophic treatment of the subject itself. 
We venture the remark, that those whom we oppose would 
more intensely interest the multitude, inasmuch as our 



12 

appeals will be directed to the reason, instead of being 
aimed at those strong proclivities for the marvelous, gen- 
erally possessed by mankind. We are also aware that 
some may suppose we have dwelt longer on some points 
than was requisite, in order to make them clear and tangi- 
ble ; but such should recollect that all do not perceive the 
force and applicability of an argument with that aptitude 
which characterize the minds of some, and therefore 
should be as patient as possible. From the manner in 
which we propose to present our ideas of this subject, we 
presume none will be offended, but those whose minds are 
always so well stored with precessions and uninvestigated 
theories, which to them are equivalent to the changeless 
principles of truth, and who, if pleased at all, must be by 
lowering down its lofty standard, and by making compro- 
mises with fictitious and erroneous conjectures of a charac- 
ter derogatory to the purity and divine origin of truth ; we 
hope, however, that even these may be induced to weigh 
our arguments with impartiality. It is a well-settled prin- 
ciple of philosophy, that the mind, in its present organic 
state of being, is endowed with a physical or animal na- 
ture, hence its developments are phrenologically classified 
into groups, denominated the organs of the mind, and we 
wish to have it distinctly understood that it is with this 
department of the mind we have exclusively to do in the 
investigation of the supposed spirit manifestations, and 
that its arrangement of human organism involves resources 
fully adequate to accomplish all the wonders spiritualism 
furnishes for human contemplation, and which is, indeed, 
but a higher insight into the wonderful physicology of 
man, who is " fearfully and wonderfully made." 

Another reason why we make this statement, at this 
early period in the discussion, is, that no misapprehension 
may hereafter be entertained, relative to the arguments 
advanced, affecting the doctrine of the Bible, touching the 
higher nature of man, in his immortal adaptations andaspi- 



13 

rations in a future state of being. And it is proper her© 
also to remark that, should we be compelled by the force 
of any fact or principle, contained in the mysterious mani- 
festations of spiritualism, to cut loose from the shores of 
time, and with its advocates embark into the unseen state, 
it would involve an admission, which fair reasoning would 
require to be made, to all our objections, against its most 
fanciful and extravagant conclusion ; for instance, suppose 
there can be produced the smallest and most insignificant 
physical effect by the supposed spirits, for which there is 
absolutely no physical or philosophical cause in nature, as 
its adequate antecedent, then, indeed, might the champions 
of spiritualism triumph. 



14 



CHAPTER IL 

THE WONDEKFUL MECHANISM OF THE HUMAN BODY. 

We would not, however, be understood as assuming our 
willingness to predicate the truthfulness of the spirit 
theory, at least at this early stage of the investigation of 
the scientific principles it involves, upon the ground that 
we claim to be able to present a perfect solution of the 
most complicated and wonderful manifestation produced 
by its ancient or modern devotees, nevertheless we are 
persuaded that an approximate elucidation upon natural 
principles toward this achievement may be accomplished, 
involving the same moving and governing principles, upon 
which all its wonders depend, for their power of manifest- 
ation, and which will furnish all honest and unprejudiced 
minds with a substantial key, independent of supernatural 
spirits, to its most marvelous phenomena, showing conclu- 
sively that their origin are referable, simply to the phys- 
ical department of human organization. — The first argu- 
ment we shall bring forward to vindicate the hypothesis 
assumed is the well-established principle of cause and 
effect. The principle of inseparable connection between 
cause and effect is unexceptionably admitted in the moral 
as well as in the physical world ; to assume, therefore, 
that an effect may be produced in the absence of a cause 
of the same texture or nature as its adequate antecedent 
would be in direct conflict with one of the most obvious 
laws of natural science, having its exemplification in the 
reciprocal connection and interdependence of all the 
works of nature, and we can but charge the advocates of 
spiritualism with having assumed precisely this position: 
for instance, in that department of these phenomena, known 
as table-moving, physical effects are manifested, which are 



15 

claimed to be the product of spirits, or anti-physical exist- 
ences, for such is their nature, but, in order to demonstrate 
the absurdity of such a hypothesis, it is necessary to take a 
somewhat extended view of the philosophy of matter, and 
which will also assist us in our future reasoning upon the 
subject. The common definition of the term "matter" is, 
that it describes any simple or compound body of sub- 
stance, containing size and density, and therefore occupy- 
ing space. Admitting, therefore, the correctness of this 
definition, it is perfectly immaterial whether the particles 
or atoms composing any such body are large or small, 
heavy or light, it in no degree affects their nature, the fact 
that they are matter, whether they compose the most subtle 
ether, and that in its most expanded and sublimated state, 
or forms the lofty crag, whose erect brow has bid defiance 
to the storms of time, remains unaffected. Indeed the im- 
aginary divisibility of its particles may be extended as far 
as the mathematical reach of infinity, and yet not the most 
distant approximation toward immateriality or pure spirit 
has been accomplished, neither is the argument affected by 
the principle of imponderability, the nature of these min- 
ute particles are as unchanged and are as really matter as 
though they were collected, and condensed in sufficient 
quantities to outweigh the Andes and the towering Alps. 
Indeed, no process of reasoning can be more hopeless and 
unphilosophical than the attempt to thus arrive at the 
nature of spirits. That there are finer states and condi- 
tions of matter, which, according to the common significa- 
tion of the term " imponderable," are supposed to be of an 
opposite nature, we are fully aware, but it must be consid- 
ered that, when these terms are used, it is only tacitly or in 
a conventional and accommodating sense, in order to clas- 
sify substances of a different texture, and which describes 
specifically those forms, states, and conditions of matter, 
which occupy the highest position in the ascending scale 
of etherialization, and which have no appreciable weight or 



16 

specific gravity, such, for instance, as that of electricity, 
and hence presents no real objection to our argument, but 
only suggests the deficiency of scientific knowledge, and 
chemical skill, requisite to the execution of the task of 
collecting and confining a sufficient quantity of this most 
etherialized substance to compel the balance to preponder- 
ate. Having introduced electricity, and claiming, as we do, 
that to its agency, in some ot its susceptible modifications, 
all the results of spiritualism are to be attributed, it is of 
importance that we should examine a little more minutely 
its substantial nature, and we remark that the claim that 
this substance is unsusceptible of atomization, or division, 
which is the same thing, for if we may divide any thing, 
we may also subdivide it, and by continuing the process, 
we must arrive at its units or smallest particles ; we 
Bay that this claim involves the absurd idea that 
electricity bears the impress of God-like indivisibility, 
we say this is an absurdity, because it is in contra- 
riety to all the well-known facts of its nature, some 
of which are that it exists in all conceivable quanti- 
ties, and separated from each other, in all directions and 
distances, and is, therefore, composed of atoms. This ob- 
jection against the gravity, or materiality, of electricity 
rests simply on the minutim of its particles, but such a 
hypothesis is as manifestly unphilosophical as that small 
bodies and insects lose their identity and individual exist- 
ence simply because of their littleness, but, if the principle 
of adequate cause and effect be admitted, then are we no 
longer left to uncertain conjecture in regard to this idea, 
but are furnished with the most demonstrable evidence in 
defense of our position, namely : that this substance is 
composed of real, solid atoms of matter, although, as we 
have said before, it is the highest in the ascending scale 
of etherialization, at least within the grasp of human con- 
ception. This evidence is contained in the physical effects 
produced by its movements through universal nature, if 



17 

we listen to its voice or follow its awful tread, when loosed 
from the dark storm cloud of heaven, we are horrified at 
the sound, and startled at beholding the open trench at our 
feet ; the tall oak of the forest, scathed by its cutting 
wing ; the shattered temple and demolished tower, which 
have attempted to arrest its victorious march, while seek- 
ing its equilibrium. To deny (we say) the material endow- 
ment of this substance is to contradict, in the most obvious 
manner, this law of cause and effect, which is tantamount 
to the claim, that these stupendous results might have* 
been produced by coming in contact with its direct and 
eternal opposite, which is immateriality, or the nature of 
spirits, and what exhibits the absurdity of this idea more? 
fully is the fact that between these two principles there? 
exists no possible medium, or transition point, as a line of 
demarkation, passing which, matter ceases to be such and 
becomes immateriality, or unmixed spiritual nature. From 
these considerations we think the following conclusions 
logical, namely : that any real, tangible effect, produced 
upon whatever body of matter, whether simple or organi- 
cal, so as to leave its impress, or produce its motion, is the 
result of a physical cause, or combination of such causes, 
either as first or secondary, in the great chain of the phys- 
ical vitalization of our globe. The application of this 
argument to the spirit theory demonstrates the fact that 
its results and manifestations must be referred to some 
other cause, or class of causes, and agencies, than to the 
magical feats of supernatural, personal invisibilities, or the 
ghosts of the departed dead ; nor can it be claimed that 
these supernatural existences produce such results as the 
overturning of a dining table by a mental effort, setting in. 
motion an electrical agent adapted to such a purpose, be- 
cause not organized according to the laws of animal life, 
is itself inert, and, therefore, disqualified to accomplish, 
not only such feats of power as spiritualism manifests, but 
as small an effect upon any body of matter whatever, as 

2 



18 

a flutter of a leaf in the forest, or the motion of one cubic 
inch of common air. 

But in addition to this, there is also the indispensable 
prerequisites necessarily involved in the production of 
physical impressions or the motion of substantial bodies 
which more fully illustrates and establishes this position ; 
these constitute what we denominate a three-fold law; 
there is, in the first place, a material and sentient organ- 
ization, possessing the power of volition, or self-emotion, 
and secondly, a material agent, as the medium of commu- 
nication, and of a nature susceptible of being put into mo- 
tion, by a decision of the mind ; and in the third place, an 
effect produced of the same tangible character ; these three 
elements, as interdepending principles, must be actively en- 
gaged, in order that the least conceivable physical result 
may be manifested, the conclusion to which we arrive, in 
view of this natural law, is, that the disembodied spirits of 
the departed dead are utterly incapable of the power to 
put forth a mental effort adequate to the task of dispatch- 
ing an agent of a nature which is indispensable to the pro- 
duction of phenomena, such as distinguish the spirit the- 
ory, and we can see no way to avoid this argument only by 
the adoption of the Pythagorical doctrine of metempsycho- 
sis, which teaches that the spirits of the dead, as they 
take their exit from the body, pass into other living ani- 
mals of a lower order, through whose organism they thence- 
forward manifest themselves, as long as they live, and 
when they die, into others of their own choosing, and so 
on, continue an eternal round of transmigration, and thus 
intelligently manifest themselves ; but as they have not 
adopted this idea, they are without even such a fabulous 
chimera as it presents in defense of their spirit notions. 
If we would, therefore, hope to succeed in the detection of 
the original causes involved in the production of these 
phenomena, we are under the necessity of searching else- 
where than to spiritual existences, and, besides this, to 



19 

suppose that there exists such power of communication 
between the spirits of the departed dead and living mor- 
tality, is not only in direct conflict with revelation, which 
declares that there is fixed an impassable gulf, so that those 
who would pass from the supernatural state, to again 
mingle in human society, cannot, which it can hardly be 
supposed, these ideal star-gazers, and ghost-consultors, are 
able to bridge ; but that is equally at variance with every 
other department of the works of the great architect of the 
universe. If we contemplate the delineations drawn by the 
inspired writers, relative to the employment of the inhab- 
itants of the upper world, we can but discover a striking 
correspondence of laws and principles by which they are 
actuated in their holy association, and which seems to be 
in the widest contrast to those governing this mundane 
locality of mankind ; those applied to that state are purely 
spiritual ; God himself originates their devotional aspira- 
tions ; His spirit communicates the inspiring impulses, and 
the spiritual beings, in consequence, swell the eternal hal- 
lelujahs which vibrate on the soft and ambient wings of 
heaven's gentle breezes, filling the golden city with songs 
of ceaseless melody, thus exhibiting no incongruous or ab- 
rupt principle — not a note of discordance is heard among 
all the divine compositions of heaven's musical sonnants. 
But it is useless to classify or particularize among the de- 
partments of Jehovah's works, this harmony of principle 
and consistency of elements, free from abrupt breaks or 
incongruous chasms, which everywhere manifest them- 
selves to the delight of all intelligent minds. 

But spiritualism presents, as its fundamental principle, 
a sentiment in the widest contrast to all this, and one which 
is without a parallel or similitude within the wide realm 
of human contemplation i What an absurd link in the 
chain of social intercommunication does the idea present 
that moral and intellectual intercourse between the high- 
est departments of sentient beings is continued, while that 



20 

of the physical is broken off, when and subsequent to the 
death of human kind, is it not fair to suppose that if the 
Deity had considered it necessary to have the advice of the 
departed dead continued indefinitely, that he would have 
kept them alive for this purpose ? But that this is not 
his arrangement, is clearly taught in the answer Abraham 
gave to the rich man to his request that he would send 
some sainted spirit to warn his five brethren lest they 
should come to his place of torment ; they (said he) would 
believe if one went unto them from the dead ; but the 
answer was, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, 
neither would they believe though one rose from the dead, 
let them hear them, silenced the conjurations of the lost 
Dives, no, God had constructed an impassable gulf be- 
tween heaven, hell and earth, over which no spirit's transit 
was possible ; and if these spirits can come back to hold 
converse with the living, why did the rich man do it ? 

But leaving this idea which contains enough, of itself, 
of argument, to constitute an everlasting refutation to the 
spiritual presumptions, we pass to remark that, before tiie 
demands to believe their theory can reasonably be com- 
plied with, they should first be required to furnish man 
kind with a philosophical chart, setting forth in lucid 
delineation and scientific precision, all the laws, powers, 
and principles, morally, physically and intellectually, 
with which the human mind is endowed, and from which 
they would be qualified to demonstrate its incapability of 
originating and consummating these phenomena ; their own 
position indispensably imposes this task upon them, for 
with what reason or propriety can it be assumed, that 
these phenomena are not to be attributed to the natural 
action of human minds reciprocally on each other, through 
the medium of those physical attributes with which they 
are endowed, in the present state of being. This chart 
should contain a minute description of all the wonderfully 
constructed, and complicated mental organism, together 



21 

with the exact amount and kind of influence, or force, 
which each individual organ or class of them are capable 
of exerting extrinsically, or on each other, as well as the 
degree and kind of power any combination of them are 
thus susceptible of producing. It should also set forth 
the principle upon which the mind affects the power of 
human vitality, manifested in producing death, by a mere 
mental impression, and that also of locomotion, connected 
with which there should be a mathematical calculation 
made of the precise amount and kinds of power, if there 
be more than one, the mind is capable of producing by a 
decision of the will ; this chart should also contain a satis- 
factory solution of the question whether in the production 
of human thought there exists a real, mechanical motion 
of the phrenological developments of the brain, as the 
organs of the mind, and if so, from whence does it originate. 

In suggesting such a requisition to our spiritual friends, 
it would not be considered strange if we should be charged 
with trifling ; but in all seriousness is not this task the 
legitimate and indispensable result of their position, that 
such a requirement thus imposed and the duties it involves, 
instead of being extravagant, is only the result of that 
proper reflection which the universal mind naturally feels 
while contemplating the great subject of mental philoso- 
phy, and which achievement it as instantly acknowledges 
itself utterly disqualified to accomplish ; but it must be 
remembered that in specifying the above requirement we 
have not included the most astonishing phases of mental 
phenomena, such, for instance, as the principle upon which, 
the mind acts in communicating intelligent impressions by 
a mere mental effort, or act of the will, independent of the 
five senses. 

Neither have we required them to tell us whether, in 
the reception of thought, there is a real physical impres- 
sion produced upon the brain, as the mental organs, and if 
not, upon what other principle is the mind capable of 



22 

retaining or remembering the respective images of descrip- 
tions and objects with which it has come in contact ; but if 
we should have included these and added a great many more, 
it would not be rendering the task at all too high to meet 
the reasonable demand of all intelligent minds, and to the 
accomplishment of which the spiritualists should imme- 
diately betake themselves, instead of spending useless 
time in the consultation of the ghosts of the departed 
dead ; and until it is achieved we can but affirm that not 
the least possible respect should be paid to the theory of 
the connection of spirits with these phenomena. That 
this theory is making unreasonable and unjust demands 
on the credulity of mankind is evidently argued from the 
existing ignorance of the nature and laws of the human 
mind, not only as it regards its sentient department, but 
almost equally those physical attributes through whose 
organical arrangement the intellect makes itself manifest. 
In order to prove more conclusively that this knowledge 
of the mind is of this superficial character, and that, too, 
even among the learned, let us suppose that it extends 
only to one of the mental functions, powers or laws, with 
its necessary paraphernalia of physical arrangement, into 
its dynamical nature and uncovered relationship no human 
insight has ever penetrated, let this, we say, be admitted, 
and we arrive in the most direct manner at a conclusion 
fatal to the whole spirit theory, and around whose bright 
blaze their delusive parhelion appears clad in the rayless 
robes of sable night, utterly incapable of reflecting the 
shadow of its own existence. Here, then, we have a 
department of the mind of which nothing is known, and 
consequently no intelligent estimate can be made of its 
capability, and hence the attitude of the spiritualists must 
be to prove the incapacity of this power of the mind to be 
susceptible of exerting a force sufficiently powerful and 
efficient to accomplish all the physical effects and intel- 
lectual phenomena which distinguishes spiritualism and, 



23 

indeed, of developing things still more wonderful and 
marvelous than any which characterizes the modern ghost 
consultations, but nevertheless in the most perfect accord- 
ance with the great laws of intellectuality, and simply the 
results of those physical principles inseparably connected 
with the sublime and god-like nature of the human mind. 
But when it is considered that ignorance prevails not 
simply in regard to a single mental organ or class of them, 
but on the contrary it is universally admitted that the real 
philosophy of mental phenomena entertained even in this 
age of science and progress is of the most superficial 
character, and which is inconsistent with a perfect com- 
prehension of its nature, attributes and capacities, the 
manifestations of which are power and intelligence. 

Now, if these reflections are truthful, then how ex- 
tremely disqualified are men of ordinary minds, with lim- 
ited attainments of knowledge, and especially those ethe- 
realized metaphysicians, who superciliously leap over the 
boundaries of their reasoning faculties, and giving loose 
wings to those proclivities they possess for the marvelous, 
soar giddily into the mystic, bottomless and shoreless 
ocean of fanciful speculation and extravagant illusion; 
how exceedingly disqualified are such, of all others, to ar- 
rogantly set limits of the most circumscribed character to 
the natural resources and capabilities of the mind of man, 
and which the spiritualists do, by attributing these phe- 
nomena to the unseen action of the spirits of dead men, 
women and children. What an absurdity does such con- 
duct exhibit, that while thus ignorant of the living mind 
they should assume a better acquaintance with the de- 
parted dead, whom they see, hear, touch, taste and handle 
not, than with living mortality, with whom they mingle 
and are daily conversant. In view of such reflections it 
can hardly be considered an expression of rudeness, or even 
unkindness, if we extend an invitation to these ethereal 
adventurers, to fold up their airy wings, at least until they 



24 

had made more proficiency in mastering the problem sug- 
gested by the philosophic poet, "know then thyself," to 
return and immediately apply themselves to its substantial 
investigation. That the most intelligent of the spiritual- 
ists have been guilty of pursuing this course, the following 
extract from Judge Edmonds fully proves: 

We quote from "Spiritualism," by Judge Edmonds and 
Dr. T. Dexter, vol. 4, p. 38, and onward. Says the Judge, 
* An artist in a neighboring city lately wrote me that he, 
from being one who had thrown this matter aside as ' a 
barefaced imposture, and who had spared no words in 
denouncing the whole affair as a stupendous fraud on the 
weak-minded and credulous/ had become an impressible 
medium, and had had scenes presented to his vision, which, 
lie says, are ' impressed upon his mind with extreme dis- 
tinctness more so than any picture he ever saw,' and they 
cannot be his own imaginings, the manner of their presen- 
tation precludes that idea." 

In regard to this man, says the judge, "If my readers 
knew him as well as I do, and w T ere acquainted with the sim- 
plicity and uprightness of his character, they would rely 
firmly upon his integrity and intelligence. For my own 
part I have never doubted the ^truthfulness of his state- 
ments." Judge Edmonds asked and got the following 
answers by this medium : Is that which I am witnessing 
the operation of some hitherto unknown but pre-existing 
cause, now for the first manifesting itself? The answer I 
got was : It is the result of human progress, it is in execu- 
tion, not a suspension of nature's laws, and it is not now 
for the first time manifesting itself, but in all ages of the 
world has at times been displayed. I was given to under- 
stand that this power was used in these manifestations, 
but how or in what manner I have not learned. I was 
also made to know that electricity and magnetism had 
something to do with them." The judge says, " I rea- 
soned thus, if it is by a law of nature it must be universal 



25 

In its application, and it may be discovered and understood 
by man, and I asked if I might understand it. I was told, 
however, that my knowledge of nature was too imperfect 
to enable me to understand it as yet. I asked what I 
might read to assist me to the required knowledge, and 
I was referred by one present to Von Reichenback's 
Dynamics of Magnetism. I read it, and there I found that 
he had discovered a hitherto unknown power in nature. 
He named it Odic force, and described it as an exceeding 
subtle fluid existing with magnetism and electricity, 
found in fire and heat, and produced in the human body 
by the chemical action of respiration, digestion and decom- 
position, and issuing from the body in the shape of a pale 
flame, with sparks and smoke, and was material in its 
nature, though so much sublimated as to be visible only 
to persons of a peculiar vision. In my experiments the 
judge says, ' I have myself once or twice seen it' (it must 
be remembered that the judge was himself a medium and 
therefore had this peculiar vision) but have met with 
those who could see it as readily as those through whom 
that German philosopher conducted his examinations.'-' 

The judge further says, Appendix, p. 421 : " I have read 
this book myself to enable me to understand these laws. 
The writer proves conclusively that this element pervades 
not only the human system, but the material world and 
the whole universe. Late English writers of high repute 
consider the existence of the Odic force as well established 
as that of magnetism and electricity." This, says the 
judge, is as far as I have been able to advance in answer 
to this question ; my attention was soon drawn to other 
matters, namely, to the moral character of the teachings, 
and I was compelled to leave the inquiry to others. I 
have related all I know on that subject, in the earnest 
hope that some one may pursue the investigation until we 
Bhall be able to understand it as well as we now do the 



26 

steam-engine or the magnetic telegraph, for surely it must 
be that the knowledge is equally attainable by man." 

Now what can be more evident from this knowledge, 
obtained by the judge, from such reliable and unquestion- 
able sources, than the fact that his strong proclivity for the 
marvelous and love for the moral teachings of spiritualism 
led him to abandon this philosophic investigation so quick- 
ly and easily as he did. He saw the existence of this fluid 
in the human system and supposed the physical manifesta- 
tions, as the movement of tables, etc., was produced by it, 
and was told by this medium, in whom he reposed perfect 
reliance, that the whole phenomena, including the intelli- 
gence spiritualism manifests, was to be attributed to the 
agency of this fluid through the physical laws of living 
men, if these laws were understood, and that they would 
be understood. Indeed, there was but one other idea 
necessary for him to see, in order to account for the intel- 
ligence it manifests through these laws, and he would and 
must have abandoned all thought of spirits being con- 
nected with them, and which we have demonstrated by 
our own experiments, and that is, that any of those im- 
pressible persons, called mediums, are able to read the 
minds of others with whom they are in sympathy, and thus 
obtain the knowledge which is returned to those whose 
minds are thus read, in the shape of revelations from the 
spirits of the dead ; and we may say here that if mankind 
do not now and never will be able to understand every 
phase of this philosophy, yet the facts with which we are 
familiar furnishes positive proof of its existence. 

We wish it to be distinctly remembered that the German 
philosopher above referred to investigated the existence 
of this electric fluid in the human system, and that it was 
by the aid of persons susceptible of being thrown into this 
peculiar magnetic state, which endows them with a pecu- 
liar power of vision, enabling them to positively see the 
brain and all its impressions, as well as all the vital organs ; 



27 

and thus are they able to discover this fluid. Judge 
Edmonds here acknowledges that he has seen it himself in 
a few instances. I have myself conducted experiments, to 
which reference will be made in this book, and also by the 
aid of such subjects who were able to see and describe the 
existence, color and offices of this fluid in carrying on the 
operations of life, and motion, and of volition and intelli- 
gence. 

Lest it should still be supposed that the degree of igno- 
rance to which we have alluded does not obtain, at least 
among the literary men of the world, in relation to the 
nature of the mind, and the laws by which it is itself gov- 
erned, let us endeavor to establish it by introducing a sim- 
ple illustration : It is fair to presume that those best ac- 
quainted with the physical laws of the human mind, and 
it is with this lowest department of its nature with which 
we have especially to do in this discussion, are that class 
of men who constitute the medical faculty. 

From the days of Hypocrates, who is considered the 
founder of medical science, they have been favored, as no 
other class of men, with not only the general facilities of 
learning, but more especially with those which relate to 
the mind in all its phases of manifestation ; but, notwith- 
standing this, what do we behold when we see even the 
most learned among them called to administer to a patient 
who is suffering under hallucination or mental aberration, 
produced by a diseased and consequently deranged condi- 
tion of the posterior portion of the brain which constitutes 
the organs of intellectual power; do they proceed as in 
other cases of acute, or even of chronic diseases ? on the 
contrary, do they not stand back, almost appalled, at the 
spectacle claiming the skillful application of their art, and 
deeply impressed with a sense of their inability even to 
make an attempt at the regulation and re-adjustment of 
the deranged mentality. How overwhelmingly do they now 
feel the inadequacy of their best and most reliable spe- 



28 

cifics to meet such an emergency, and who are more willing 
than they to acknowledge, that for aught they can do to 
the contrary, the reason of the unfortunate sufferer must 
continue to reel upon her throne. From these considera- 
tions, is it not obvious that such conduct can only be attrib- 
uted, as its legitimate cause, to their utter incomprehen- 
sion of the nature and moving principles involved in this 
grandest display of divine mechanism. Let us suppose a 
mechanic to have a perfect comprehension of all the prin- 
ciples entering into the construction and movements of an 
ordinary machine, say a steam engine, which by some 
casualty has become so far deranged that it is incapable 
of accomplishing the purposes for which it was designed, 
and that this mechanic should be then called to repair the 
injury and put it again in motion, so that it wou]d be cap- 
able of performing its natural functions. Now, is it not 
evident that, after he had made a careful and thorough 
examination of the whole machine, he would be able not 
only to detect the cause of the derangement, but with 
equal ease and promptitude to make the application of 
that remedy which would eventuate in its restoration to 
practical usefulness. Is it not evident that this mechanic's 
ability to thus nroceed and to accomplish this task arose 
simply from the fact that he was in possession of a perfect 
knowledge of all the mechanical principles entering into 
the construction and government of its movements. And 
is it not as evident that if physicians were in possession of 
as perfect a comprebension of merely the physical laws 
and organical attributes entering into the formation and 
government of the human mind, that they would be equally 
prepared to attack and as skillfully restore the diseased and 
deranged organs so that it would be again capable of 
resuming its natural functions of thought and intelligence, 
and of again bringing the voluntary powers of the system 
under the control of the will. 



29 

In view of these reflections, who can conceive the degree 
of reckless absurdity, manifested by the spiritualists, that 
in their zealous blunderings they should have evacuated 
the shores of the world, without having collected a single 
pebble on its limitless shore, and to delve frantically into 
the invisible scenes, — passing the separating veil of human 
penetration from whence nought but unsubstantial fabrics, 
such as dreams are made of, can be gathered, adapted to no 
other purpose but the satiaty of visionary appetites, or the 
development of that peculiarity of mental temperament 
which can only be satisfied with the marvelous and incom- 
prehensible ; but while mankind are able to comprehend 
the mechanism of a human machine, none but him, whose 
handiwork the god-like mind manifests, is fully able to 
comprehend those powers and natural capabilities which 
it exhibits, mentally considered, man, although in ruins, 
still bears the living expression of the Deity, from whose 
omnific hand he came forth originally stamped with the 
divine similitude, and bearing the inscription of supe- 
riority over all earth's creatures, and in the scale of being 
but a little lower than the angels; while all other living 
animals find within the present resources of the world that 
sphere most congenial to meet the highest demands of 
their nature, the aspirations of man compels him to look 
and hope for a future state of being in the widest contrast 
to that which the present resources of the world, with its 
most congenial elements, afford to meet the moral and 
intellectual capacities and demands of his being; man 
stands forth among his fellows as the unread volume — 
the most profound enigma for human contemplation ; so far 
as the world is concerned, the masterpiece of divine mech- 
anism, the great insolvable problem which leaves all our 
soaring thoughts behind. Oppressed with the grandeur of 
the human mind, how beautiful and true are those inimi- 
table lines of Dr. Young, introduced to illustrate the wis- 
dom of the Creator : 



30 

How wonderful is man, how passing 
"Wonder He who made him such ; 
Who centered in our natures such strange 
Extremes from different natures marvelously, 
Mixed connection exquisite of distant 
"Worlds ; distinguished link in beings ; 
Endless chain, midway from nothing 
To the Deity, a beam ethereal sullied and 
Absorbed, though sullied and dishonored, 
Still divine, dim miniature of greatness, 
Absolute ; an heir of glory, a frail child 
Of dust, helpless, immortal, a worm ; 
A God, I tremble at myself ; and in 
Myself am lost, at home a stranger. 
Thought wanders up and down surprised, 
Aghast, and wondering at her own. 
How reason reels ! Oh ! what a miracle 
To man is man, triumphantly distressed ; 
"What joy ! what dread ! alternately 
Transported and alarmed. What 
Can preserve my life, or what destroy? 
An angel's arm can't snatch me 
From the grave ; legions of angels 
Can't confine me there. 

On the supposition, therefore, that there is but a single 
law of mind, comprehending the secret springs of intel- 
lectual phenomena, manifesting itself through physical 
organism, that to its action may we reasonably refer all 
the supposed spirit manifestations, and who are prepared 
to show that these marvelous exhibitions are not evolved 
from its uncovered ability. Is it not fair, therefore, to 
assume that the spiritualists should first be required to 
master the poet's proposition, "know then thyself," in its 
fullest extent, before the least justification can be shown 
for their attempts to lift up the curtains of the ethereal 
scenes, and of exploring its imaginary spheres, should be 
tolerated? And is there not here involved a field so vast 
for human research, that no fragment of mortality can ever 
rationally hope to make a full exploration or master the 
sublime problem? If the principle be correct that no 



31 

being is fully capable of comprehending the creative 
mechanism interwoven in his own organism, no matter 
what link in the chain of created beings he who makes 
the attempt may occupy, and this includes man himself, 
for he is no more capable of accomplishing this task in 
regard to an ephemeral insect, or the smallest animalcule 
that swarms in every rain drop, than that of his own exist- 
ence ; we say, if this be correct, then is not the above 
inference legitimate ? If man is, therefore, so fearfully 
and wonderfully made, and that, too, simply as it regards 
him as the head of the animal creation without reference 
to his moral and intellectual nature ? And if the most 
profound philosophers and metaphysicians have freely ac- 
knowledged that they only occupied a marginal position 
in relation to this department of the works of the Deity, 
while the vast ocean laid before them unexplored, how 
unenviable and absurd is the attitude of those who ascribe 
these phenomena to the supernatural agency of the ghosts 
of dead men, women and children ? It would be surpris- 
ing that men of intellectual power and perfectly rational 
on all other subjects, should have adopted such opinions, 
were we ignorant of the assiduity with which some minds 
are inclined to grasp the marvelous and in comprehensible. 
Without regard to their intellectual attainment, this pro- 
clivity seems to be inherent with many. Hence the ghostly 
lectures delivered to the spirit believers, and the publica- 
tion of such theories as those which so copiously flow from 
the pen of Judge Edmonds, such as that the spirits of the 
dead leap quickly from hell or heaven, as the highest and 
lowest sphere, or from some midway locality, in obedience 
to the conjurations of these modern wizards and familiar 
spiritualists, to perform the august antic of causing a 
dining-table to hop along the floor, or, on speediest wing, to 
cause them to fly from their progressive spheres, to tap on 
the head-board of a bed occupied by a venerable judge. 
But it is proper here to remark, that, in view of the wide- 



32 

spread incomprehension of the human mind, and as it is 
within this range of investigation, we are here necessarily 
confined, that it would be unreasonable to demand more 
than a plausible solution of the causes involved in the 
production of these phenomena, having already proved 
the natural incapability of disembodied spirits to such 
achievements ; this will appear more evident, if it is con- 
sidered that the human mind is but just emerging from 
the dismal labyrinth of bigotry, superstition and intoler- 
ance, within whose gloomy prison-house its powers have 
been fettered for centuries, utterly incapacitated for that 
natural expansion of which it is susceptible. Indeed, the 
idea is but just beginning to be entertained, that the great 
system of revealed and scientific truth has nothing to lose, 
but every thing to gain, by submission to impartial investi- 
gation, but from having received our moral and mental im- 
pressibility from such an ancestry, is it to be wondered at 
that men of the present generation should manifest an aver- 
sion at the rationality of such subjects as spiritualism, and 
should rather imitate the example of their ancient fraternity 
of witches and wizards, and their conjuring consulters, by 
attributing these manifestations to intangible and super- 
natural agencies, within whose incorporal fields there would 
not be the least possibility, by any process of reasoning, of 
testing the correctness of their conclusions? The rapidity 
with which the spirit theory has spread, since the Roches- 
ter knockings, demonstrates the fact that these ancestral 
proclivities for the marvelous not only exist, but are prom- 
inent characteristics of the present age. We repeat that, 
in view of such facts, all that can be required at our hand 
is that a solution be given to these phenomena, sufficiently 
tangible and conclusive to furnish a key to its almost in- 
scrutable source, and one which will be sufficiently obvious 
to afford a defensive shield to those who have not become 
affected by its strange hallucinations, and which may also 
add something toward delivering this transcendent depart- 



33 

ment of nature from that pulverulence in which it is in- 
volved, by this modern system of astrological incantation. 
In connection with the proposition already assumed we 
here make four others : First, that the existence of human 
intelligence depends upon the brain proper, as its indispen- 
sable instruments of manifestation ; secondly, that the 
human mind is capable of putting in motion an extrane- 
ous substance, as its agent, by a mere decision of the will,, 
and which is adapted to physically impress and move a 
foreign body of matter, without contact by any of the vol- 
untary organs of the system ; thirdly, that the mind is 
endowed with the faculty of conveying an impression to 
the mind of another, without regard to intervening dis- 
tance; and, fourthly, that the individual receiving it, if 
possessed of a certain magnetic condition of nerves and 
brain, is capable of returning and of reading the thoughts 
and impressions of that mind, perfectly independent of 
outward signs, such as words and motions. It will be per- 
ceived that these propositions cover the whole ground of 
spiritualism, and, if successfully vindicated, settles the 
question as to the nature of their origin. 



CHAPTER IK 

THE RELATION OF ELECTRICITY, NERVES AND BRAIN. 

In this connection we wish to briefly introduce a few 
physiological facts, so that the arguments about to be in- 
troduced may be better appreciated. 

The first of these to which we refer is, that there exists 
such an intimate connection between the organic structure 
of the human brain (proper) and the mind, that, whenever 
the former becomes affected by disease, or otherwise, the 
latter becomes correspondingly affected, manifesting itself 
in aberration or irrational hallucination. 

It is also found that idiocy is the invariable result of a 
mere deficiency of brain, located in the frontal region of 
the cranium, phrenologically denominated the intellectual 
organs. We are aware that there are facts which may be 
produced to show this portion of the brain or parts of it 
to have been removed by casuality and disease without 
impairing, to any considerable degree the intellectual fac- 
ulties ; and in order to give these their full weight against 
our position, we will introduce a few of the most striking 
cases of which we have any information. These are con- 
tained in a work entitled " Dr. Abercrombie's Inquiries on 
the Intellectual Powers/' After having shown that, in 
general, the reason is affected in proportion to this depart- 
ment of the brain, on page 132 he introduces some cases (as 
supposed), exceptions, and remarks, that while we thus 
review the manner in which the manifestations of mind 
are affected in certain cases by disease, and injuries of the 
brain, it is necessary that we should refer briefly to the 
remarkable instances in which the brain has been seriously 
diseased, without the phenomena of mind being, to any 
considerable degree, impaired; this holds true both in 



35 

regard to each individual part of the brain, and likewise 
to the extent to which the cerebral mass may be diseased 
or destroyed. 

In another work (says the Dr.) I have mentioned various 
cases which illustrate, in a very striking manner, this fact, 
particularly the case of a lady, in whom one-half of the 
brain was reduced to a mass of disease, but who retained 
all her faculties to the last, except that there was an im- 
perfection of vision, — and who had been enjoying herself 
at a convivial party a few hours before her death. 

Another is a case mentioned by Dr. Ferriar, who died of 
an affection of the brain, and who retained all his faculties 
to the very moment of his death, which was sudden. On 
examining his head, the whole right hemisphere — that is, 
one-half of his brain, was found to be destroyed by suppu- 
ration. 

In a similar case recorded by Demerbrok, half a pound 
of matter was found in the brain, and in one recorded by 
Dr. Heberdon there was found a half pound of water. A 
man mentioned by Mr. Halioran, suffered such an injury 
of the head that a large portion of the bone was removed 
from the right side, and an extensive suppuration having 
taken place, there was discharged at each dressing through 
the opening an immense quantity of matter, mixed with 
large masses of the substance of the brain. This contin- 
ued for seventeen days in succession, and it appears that 
nearly one-half of the brain mixed with matter was 
thrown out ; and yet the man retained all his intellectual 
faculties to the very moment of his dissolution, and 
through the whole course of the disease, his mind main- 
tained uniform tranquillity." 

It is unnecessary to multiply instances of this nature, 
inasmuch as these are justly classified among those of the 
most remarkable, and by a man, too, whose qualifications 
for forming correct opinions in any direction, within the 
scope of medical science, is unsurpassed, we may safely 



36 

assume, that if they afford no well-grounded doubt or ob- 
jectionable argument against our position that such in- 
stances cannot be produced. 

In order to do this successfully, it is indispensable that 
a case be furnished of an individual whose entire brain, 
including both hemispheres of the cerebral mass, should 
have been so completely destroyed by disease or casualty, 
and carried off by suppuration, that nothing was left in the 
frontal region of the head but an empty cranium, without 
affecting the intellectual powers, in any of its faculties, 
before we shall be compelled to abandon our position, 
namely, that one hemisphere of the brain proper must 
exist and to any considerable extent unimpaired or ob- 
structed by disease or otherwise, in order to endow its pos- 
sessor with the phenomena of intelligence. In all the 
instances introduced by Dr. Abercrombie, it will be ob- 
served that the disease and destruction of the cerebral 
matter was confined exclusively to one hemisphere of the 
brain, and hence they are in harmony with our theory. In 
addition to this, it must be remembered that man is con- 
structed double, especially in regard to his brain, the re- 
sult of which is, that one of its hemispheres may be held 
in a spasm, producing paralysis of the opposite side of the 
individual thus affected, but leaving one side in a perfect 
state of health. This paralysis may be so entire that the 
senses of hearing, seeing, and that of touch may be com- 
pletely destroyed, as well as all power of volition, on the 
one side of the individual, while all these senses and the 
instruments of motion on the other side, remain in a state 
of perfect health and subjection to the will. This fact 
proves that man is endowed with two sets of external or- 
gans of sense, as well as of those of voluntary motion, and 
therefore proving him also to be endowed with two dis- 
tinct hemispheres of cerebral matter, as sources from 
whence their intelligent functions originate, from which, 
we logically conclude that one portion of this matter may 



37 

he entirely destroyed by disease and carried off by suppu- 
ration and yet leaving the intellect unimpaired, because, 
acting through the undiseased aad consequently unob- 
structed hemisphere of brain, constituting the material 
instruments of intellectual power. 

Having now disposed of this objection, and established 
the position that the existence of the cerebrum is indis- 
pensable to human intelligence, we proceed to the consider- 
ation of another physiological fact connected with this 
subject, which is, that the nerves of the human system are 
so many conductors of a fine sublimated fluid, from the 
cerebellum to the vital organs of the system, and from the 
cerebrum to its instruments of volition, under the gov- 
ernment and direction of the will. 

In order to establish this truth in its relation to the 
cerebellum, it is only necessary to introduce the results of 
some of those peculiar electro-physiological experiments 
which have been produced repeatedly by eminent physi- 
cians and electricians, and which we believe furnish 
demonstrative evidence in defense of the position that the 
organs of life and vitality are depending on the nervous 
force which they receive from the brain for the power 
requisite to enable them to perform their respective func- 
tions, the result of which is animal life. The first of these 
to which we refer is, that the nerves emanating from the 
spinal column which is perpetually communicated from 
the brain as the vitalizing principle of animal life, and 
connecting with the organs of digestion have been cut 
loose from their spinal roots, and the consequence was 
that the operation of digestion was immediately sus- 
pended; a galvanic battery was then procured, and its 
negative and positive poles applied to the roots of the 
nerves which were left at the spinal column, restoring 
the galvanic circle between the artificial battery and the 
organs of digestion, answering the place of the natural 
magnetic circle, between them and the brain, and the 



38 

result was, that these organs immediately commenced to 
perform their functions as natural as life. 

This experiment not only proves that there is a fluid 
substance forced from the brain, by its natural action 
through the spinal marrow and from thence conducted by 
nerves to all the organs of life, to impel their motion, but 
that this substance is identical with electricity. This ex- 
periment has also been tried with equal success upon all 
the vital organs. As the composition and structure of the 
voluntary nerves of the system are identical with those of 
its involuntary department, it would be reasonable to infer, 
in the absence of all other proof, that their office was also 
that of conductors, receiving from that department of the 
brain, constituting the organs of the mind, the electric 
force which is dispatched by the decision of the will, when 
any act of volition is to be performed, and carried along 
the voluntary nerves to those organs which are to be 
brought into requisition for any such purpose', but we are 
not left to mere inference in the establishment of this 
truth, for it has also been submitted to experiment the 
result of which is as follows : A principal nerve of motion 
leading to a finger in the hand has been severed in the 
arm above, and the result was that the finger could not be 
moved by the will; the ends of the nerve thus parted 
were then connected by the application of a piece of 
metallic wire, and which so perfectly supplied the place of 
the lacking nerve that the finger was again under the con- 
trol of the mind, and obeyed the decision of the will, as 
though the nerve had not been cut asunder. 

This experiment, therefore, demonstrates the fact that 
there is a substance put in motion by the decision of the 
will, or in conformity to its decision, and also that this 
substance is electricity, because adapted to contract the 
muscles as though they were in contact with a galvanic 
battery, and thereby giving rise to the phenomena of loco- 
motion, and all other voluntary movements of the physical 



39 

system. Indeed, the galvanic power has been so success- 
fully applied to the bodies of dead men, compelling them 
to exhibit the phenomena of life so true to nature that 
those who were engaged in making the experiments be- 
came terrified at the horrid gesticulations and contortions 
exhibited by the dead, and actually supposed them coming 
again to life. There are some points of resemblance be- 
tween the nervous force and galvanism or electricity, both 
of which are but different modifications of the same com- 
mon substance, which is proper here to notice, and which 
shows it to be most exquisitely adapted to, as the physical 
agent of the mind. One of the most prominent of these 
is that of its power of velocity. It has been truly said 
that its speed knows no time. With its metallic fingers it 
transmits telegraphic dispatches from city to city and from 
continent to continent, in the twinkling of an eye. This 
is also one of the characteristics of the lightning of 
the mind. So rapid are its motions that we seem to degrade 
them by an attempted description. The mind, for instance, 
receives an impression that the hand is in contact with 
burning metal, or any thing else which produces pain, 
through a nerve of sensation, when, as quick as the elec- 
tric flash, a sufficient quantity of its fluid messenger is 
dispatched by the will, which contracts the muscles of the 
arm as though the hand had suddenly touched a charged 
galvanic pile and received its charge, and the muscles, be- 
ing attached to the bones by their respective tendons, the 
hand is immediately removed from the seat of danger. 

Again, the image of some object with which the eye has 
come in contact is struck upon its retina, and from thence 
conveyed, by the vibration of the optic nerve, to the mind 
for its decision, which motion has also been produced by 
the imagery reflection of the object thus in contact with 
it. Under these circumstances the mind is aroused to a 
degree of activity corresponding with the importance of 
the suggestions associated with this specific object, what- 



40 

ever it may be. If it is one calculated to produce intense 
excitement, the mind measures off long trains of intelli- 
gent thought with a speed nothing less than that of tele- 
graphic velocity. From these facts it is evident that the 
principle of vitality, and the mental agency by which we 
are enabled to make involuntary motion, is not only iden- 
tical, but that it is also identical with electricity or galvan- 
ism, and that the' office of the whole nervous system is that 
of conductors of this electric force, for which they have a 
strong affinity. In these experiments, such as the motion 
of the finger, to which we have referred, there is also mani- 
fested the active existence of the three-fold law, indispen- 
sable to the production of all such physical effects. There 
is, first, the decision of the mind, acting through the organ- 
ical brain and nerves of volition; secondly, the electric 
agent, moved by the will, and held steady to its purpose by 
the conducting nerves emanating from the brain, their 
source ; and, in the third place, the effect, which is the in- 
telligent motion of the finger, in obedience to the mental 
mandate. 

We are aware that an objection may be raised to this 
process of reasoning, from the supposition that it leads to 
the materialistic view of the human mind, for if it be ad- 
mitted that no physical substance, such as this electric 
agency of the mind is known to be, can be put in motion 
by any other than a physical power beyond itself, and as 
the mind is endowed with this qualification, it is, there- 
fore, of a physical or material nature ; but, in answer to 
this objection, we would remark that its author has ad- 
vanced one step beyond the sphere of man's capability and 
power of comprehension. It assumes the position which 
we have already anticipated, by clearly exposing its un- 
tenability. Those who make this objection proceed on 
the presumption that, in the present state of being, men 
are capable of comprehending all the exquisitely arranged 
and wonderfully complicated mechanism interwoven in 



41 

this grandest display of creative skill and energy ; of man 
it has been truly said, that he is a universe epitomized, 
containing in his physical organization the chemical prop- 
erties of the great globe he inhabits, and with a mind, 
though in ruins, yet bearing the characteristic marks of 
the Divinity. To set up the pretension, therefore, of 
ability to solve this mighty problem, is the very consum- 
mation of folly, they should recollect that any individual 
mind is no more capable of comprehending his own exist 
ence than a machine which his own hands has produced 
is thus capable. From our low, mundane stand-point of 
observation, is it to be considered an unreasonable conjec- 
ture, that there may exist even many connecting links in 
the chain from whence originates the stupendous phe- 
nomena of human intelligence, before it approximates 
that sphere of its manifestation where scientific research 
begins its discovery, above and beyond which, so far as 
mortals are concerned, all is mere anti-physical specula- 
tion, scarcely worthy of being denominated abstractions, 
because at so great a remove from any tangible argument, 
and any attempt to deduce therefrom any theoretic hy- 
pothesis whatever concerning the manifestations of man, 
mentally, morally, or physically, evinces an extravagant 
flight of fancy, as unsubstantial as the fictitious fabric of 
a dream, and utterly unworthy the respect or serious con- 
sideration of intelligent minds ; such visionary soarings 
come not within the scale by which human capacity is to 
be estimated, the legitimate sphere of which commences 
at precisely that point where the known laws of nature 
have their application, and which are found to be neces- 
sary to the development of those inherent sources of power 
which constitute the great mental sensorium. Science and 
philosophy, properly so called, afford not one ray of light 
to direct the ethereal adventurer beyond its truths, of 
which Deity himself is the author. Indeed, we might go 
still further, and claim that were he to have made the 



42 

attempt to furnish mankind with a perfect picture, reveal- 
ing the entire nature of human thought and intelligence, 
setting forth all the profound and majestic principles in- 
volved in its phenomena, in all their degrees of minutiae, 
he would, nevertheless, continue to be as ignorant of its 
higher phases, as though no such attempt had been made, 
and that, too, simply because of his incapacity to compre- 
hend its delineations. The power of the most capacious 
minds, in their highest state of cultivation, are only equal 
to the task of searching out the laws and principles which 
seem to be involved in the composition of intelligent exer- 
cise ; and even this reasoning must be confined to the rela- 
tion of cause and effect,. and vice versa, through the analogy 
of circumstances and things, drawing a strict boundary 
line at that point where this relation and law of similarity 
ceases its application ; and an attempt, as we said before, 
to explore the field beyond, exhibits as great a degree of 
folly and presumption, as to deny that beyond its confines 
there exists beings and things vastly superior to those of 
which the present race of man is cognizant. 

With these views before us, are we not justified in 
demanding of the spiritualists that they should remain on 
the mortal side of this ethereal boundary-line, in their 
researches after truth, if they would hope to succeed in its 
detection ; and we would ask if they have not utterly 
failed by the above objection to invalidate the force and 
truthfulness of our argument, and equally to have driven 
us to the assumption of the materialistic theory of mind, 
leaving us philosophically the right to maintain the 
revealed doctrine of scripture in relation to the future 
existence of man, and which is in perfect consistency with 
the fact, that, in his present state of being, he is only 
capable of manifesting the phenomena of intelligence 
through the organic arrangement of brain and nerves, and 
the fluid agencies with which they are allied, including 
the five external senses. Having now succeeded in pre- 



43 

senting what we believe to be the philosophy of human 
volition and mental power, we are prepared to advance 
one step further in the vindication of the position that the 
mind is capable of putting in motion an extrinsic sub- 
stance as its agent, for the accomplishment of its various 
purposes. The principle, however, upon which the argu- 
ment we are about to advance is based, is one which we 
have already endeavored to establish, and it only requires 
its legitimate extension, in order to show that that part of 
the spiritual phenomena called table-moving is to be 
attributed to its agency. As the magnetic force of the 
human system is demonstrated to be identical with galvan- 
ism and electricity, it follows that it is not only governed 
by the same laws, but that it also depends upon the exist- 
ence of similar circumstances and conditions of things, in 
order that its subtle nature may be able to develop itself. 
One of the natural characteristics of this substance, in all 
its modifications, although susceptible of a rapidity of 
flight far beyond the power of mathematical computation, 
is that of inertia, the motion of which, therefore, depends 
upon the action of the galvanic battery, or those laws of 
nature with which its artificial principles correspond. This 
peculiarity is exhibited by the passage of the lightning 
from a positive to a negative cloud in a storm, when they 
are driven by the wind within the striking distance of 
each other, the positive cloud, or that containing the great- 
est quantity, creating an impulsive force, while that con- 
taining the lesser quantity, a negative or attractive force, 
the electricity is therefore compelled to leave the one and 
enter the other cloud, in a sufficient quantity to restore 
the equilibrium between them, when it again assumes its 
rest of inertia. This fact is also witnessed by the opera- 
tion of the magnetic telegraph, the electric force having 
been thrown out of balance by the application of a positive 
and negative pole of a battery at either' extremity of the 
metallic wire, over which the electric lightning immedi- 



44 

ately speeds its rapid flight again in search of its equili- 
brium, and, when found, assumes its rest of inertia. 

Corresponding to this natural and artificial arrangement, 
upon which this fluid depends for power of motion, is the 
human brain, whose vibratory action, in compelling the 
organs of life to perform their various functions, may be 
distinctly heard by any two individuals putting one of each 
of their ears closely together, and then shutting off the air 
from those which are not thus in contact. They may also 
be heard, but with less distinctness, by simply pressing our 
hands against our own ears. We are furnished with an- 
other fact, embraced in magnetic science, in relation to the 
nature of conductors, which is of great importance in its 
bearing upon this subject. Although metallic wire forms 
excellent magnetic conductors, and is, therefore, generally 
used, yet there has no substance or body of matter been dis- 
covered which is of a perfectly non-conductoral nature, and 
it is equally true that all fluids are good electric conductors. 
This phenomenon is exhibited in certain localities in Eng- 
land, where such a damp, heavy atmosphere exists, at 
times, that it renders telegraphic intercommunication im- 
possible, even by the use of the most powerful batteries, 
the fluid becoming so far absorbed, while prosecuting its 
journey, that it fails to convey the message to the place of 
destination. It is also true that any state of the atmos- 
phere, composed as it is of fluid gases, is possessed of this 
qualification; as proof of this, the needle, when placed 
within a given distance to a charged or permanent magnet, 
suddenly connects itself with it, the intervening air acting 
as the medium of communication. And indeed the passage 
of the lightning, to which we have already referred, ex- 
hibits precisely this principle, using the air as its conduct- 
ing wire. From these facts, we conclude that when the 
electric fluid is put in motion by the principle of the bat- 
tery, whether in external nature, the artificial battery 
itself, or by the human brain, it is not dependent upon any 



45 

particular medium of communication, and more especially 
that atmospheric air is endowed with this peculiarity. 
The application of this argument to the phenomena of 
table-moving is conclusive, exhibiting clearly the principle 
upon which it is accomplished. Let us suppose that there 
are assembled a number of individuals for the purpose, as 
a whole, of producing and witnessing these manifestations ; 
after the necessary preparations are made, the attention of 
the company becomes concentrated upon the medium and 
the table, which is the object to be moved, or if there is no- 
known medium present, then upon the object to be moved. 
No sooner is this done than the electric agencies of all these 
minds become agitated and put in motion, some by the di- 
rect power of the will, and others simply by expectation; 
this entire force, however, being thus dispatched by the 
will from the brain, and from thence being conducted 
through the nerves of the arm to the finger ends, and if 
these are in contact with the table, the communication is 
unbroken, and is readily moved in the direction the circle 
either wishes or expects ; but if the table is not thus 
touched, the intervening air acts as the conducting medium 
of the mental force. There is, also, in connection with this 
department of spiritualism, the striking fact that the most 
astonishing manifestations are witnessed (other things 
being equal) when there are the greatest number present 
on the occasion, who have either been magnetized or are 
susceptible of this influence, or if not in the greatest num- 
ber, those who are thus susceptible to the greatest degree. 
Here the question suggests itself, why is the presence of 
persons possessed of this peculiar magnetic temperament 
necessary in order to the successful manifestation of these 
phenomena ? to suppose that, because they are susceptible 
of the sleepy condition, they are selected by the spirits of 
the departed dead, through whose organism to thus mani- 
fest themselves, to our mind, is the extreme of the ridicu- 
lous, and if the advocates of spiritualism are capable of 



46 

showing it to be otherwise, why not do so, and thus, at 
least in one point, prove it to be something different from 
what we have shown it to be. 

The prominent fact connected with these experiments, 
and which contains the natural answer to the above in- 
quiries, is, that the mind and will of one individual is held 
under the most perfect control by the mind and will of 
another, so that, by a word or sign, as well as by a mere 
mental effort, the one class loses most completely, not only 
all power of volition, but also that of rationality, while 
the other class has had this power strangely transferred to 
themselves, so that they are operated upon like a mere 
machine, and that, too, without physical contact. If a 
man may be thus controlled and moved by the mind and 
will of another, why not a table upon the same principle ? 
Now let us recur to the illustration above introduced. 
Here, then, we have present some of those individuals 
who are thus impressible, called mediums ; and whatever 
other ideas may be attached to the qualifications of such, 
it is conceded on all hands, that with their presence such 
freaks as the moving of tables and other objects may be 
expected. Those persons present, who are not susceptible 
of the magnetic sleep, or of such wakeful impressibility 
as we shall hereafter show, and who have but little faith 
in these phenomena, assist, although unintentionally, in 
their production, but whose capacity is that of operators, 
their minds acting irresistibly on those of the mediums, 
producing on them the undivided impression that the 
object sought will] be accomplished, and, as they believe, 
so is their active power in the premises ; although there 
is an utter absence of evidence upon which to base such 
belief, never having witnessed any of the spirit manifes- 
tations, or who may never even have heard of their exist- 
ence, these are, of course, new mediums, possessing, how- 
ever, the only necessary prerequisite, mesmeric impressi- 
bility. By the governing power of the minds of those 



47 

operators, whether they act by design or inadvertently, the 
entire mental power of all the mediums present is col- 
lected, concentrated and conveyed to the table, the motion 
of which is thus effected, the atmosphere above and 
around which becoming so far electrified that its pressure 
is neutralized, or balanced, and the specific gravity of the 
table being thus counteracted, requires, consequently, but 
the slightest degree of power to suspend and move it in 
any desired direction, which principle may be illustrated 
on only a more magnificent scale by the motion of the 
planetary system, whose orbits are laid through this subli- 
mated or electrical substance, and hence, after having been 
once put in motion by the fiat of the almighty mind, con- 
tinues the same velocity with undeviating uniformity, 
held by the agency of the same substance, whose centripital 
and centrifugal forces compels their circles, and recipro- 
cally holds the sun itself immovably fixed in space. 

To illustrate the movement of tables or other objects by 
ihe formation of a vacuum, and by this concentration of 
the mental electric force, we must remember that, on 
every square inch of the table to be moved, there is an 
atmospheric pressure of fifteen pounds to each square inch 
of its surface, and that, too, in every direction. We will 
suppose the table now to be moved is a very small one, 
having but one square inch of surface, it has, therefore, 
fifteen pounds pressure from beneath as well as above it, 
and we will, also, suppose its specific gravity, or weight, is 
only one ounce. Now, suppose the force thrown upon it 
from the minds of those present, and it must, also, be un- 
derstood that a square inch of this force is millions of 
times lighter than a square inch of air, has charged the 
atmosphere on it so that it weighs two ounces less, and we 
have now fourteen pounds and fourteen ounces of air rest- 
ing on the table, while the fifteen pounds from beneath 
remains the same. Now, do we not perceive that this 
vacuum is sufficient to enable the fifteen pounds beneath 



48 

the table to move it upward, just as fourteen pounds and 
fourteen ounces in one scale will be moved up by fifteen 
pounds in the other scale of the balance ; and do we not, also, 
see that if this mental force is concentrated on any side of 
the table, that the result will be that it will move in the 
direction of that vacuum thus produced ; and do we not also 
see, that, as the mind of a magnetic subject is under the 
mental control of some one present, and its force, there- 
fore, thus concentrated to any point, or upon any subject, 
without their having any power to resist it, and held there, 
that the object will be thus moved, and as the table moves 
the vacuum moves with it, and that, too, simply by displac- 
ing the air to this limited extent ? 

It is a fact, that tables are not only made thus to per- 
form simple movements, but, also, to move so that they 
will write names of individuals intelligibly. The move- 
ment of the planchette, which almost every one has wit- 
nessed, is thus produced, and this proves that the vacuum 
moves with the table, and in the direction it is expected, 
too, by the mental force thus communicated to it. 

Now, if this is a law of mind, it applies to all orders of 
minds, and is, consequently, the principle upon which the 
Deity sets worlds in motion, and the great law he has 
applied to them to perpetuate their motions, and, indeed, 
this is only another name for that of " universal gravity." 

It is this principle upon which Christ walked upon the 
water, and which Peter failing to do, was rescued from 
drowning by the hand of Him who was the creator of 
nature's laws ; all that was necessary for Him to do was 
to remove the atmospheric pressure, so as to form a vacuum 
above His head, which would render the air above Him of 
less specific gravity than the density of the water beneath 
His feet, and He could as well walk upon it as on solid 
rock ; and when He ascended into heaven, with his resur- 
rection body immortalized, of flesh and bones, all that was 
necessary for Him to do was, by an act of His will, to 



49 

form an air vacuum above His head, and the fifteen 
pounds pressure to the square inch from beneath would 
cause Him to rise, as He did, majestically into the heavens. 

That electrical vacuums are almost continually being 
formed by the displacement of the heavier gases of the 
atmosphere is everywhere witnessed, and sometimes only 
to a degree that to equalize produces no report, as seen in 
what is commonly called " heat lightning." Dense clouds 
of vapor so absorb electricity that, to restore its equili- 
brium or fill the vacuums thus produced, the lightning's* 
flash and thunder's roar, is witnessed and necessary. 

It is also well known that a damp, heavy atmosphere often 
so absorbs the electric force from the wires that tele- 
graphic communication is impossible for the time being. 

But it may be said that if men can thus move objects by 
a mere mental effort, and accomplish such wonders, it is 
working miracles, but the objector should remember that 
every mind can produce effects according to its greatness. 
Christ could cure the palsy, and raise to life the dead, and 
this in every instance, but man can only cure the palsy, 
and that too under peculiar circumstances, and cannot raise 
the dead at all, unless the power equal to the act to be 
done is directly given by him, and that too for the pur- 
pose. But here is a natural power which man is known 
now to possess, by which he may heal his fellow man 
without medicine, as we shall show more largely hereafter, 
and as we shall also show such healing is, to say the least, 
as philosophical as that medicine cures. But we will sup- 
pose a man has the power, and uses it, to cast out devils, 
and do every thing Christ did while on earth, would Christ 
object to that if he were here? Indeed, this is but an ex- 
tension of the same philosophic principle upon which the 
fingers of the human hand are intelligently moved by the 
will and guided by the intellect for the performance of 
any act whatever, the air acting as the conductor of the 
force dispatched by the will, after it leaves the nerves at 
4 



50 

the finger ends. The fingers have no power even to move 
themselves, much less to move intelligently, and are only 
moved by the electric agency of the mind, dispatched by 
the will, and guided in their action by the intellect. Now, 
as the nerves of motion are only conductors of this force 
from the brain to the finger ends, and as the air is also a 
good conductor of the electric force, it becomes the medium 
from that point to the table, or any other object to be 
moved, and that its motion can thus be produced, and still 
guided by the intellect, it is made not only to move, but 
to move as intelligently, writing names, etc., as the fingers 
themselves. 

The conclusions to which we now arrive in relation to 
the spirit power may be stated as follows : First, the de- 
gree of the development of mediums is in proportion to 
that of their mesmeric susceptibility. Second, the power 
to dispatch the mental force is in proportion to the suscepti- 
bility of receiving and acting under erroneous and absurd 
impressions. Third, the power to concentrate the mental 
. force depends upon the faith possessed by a medium of his 
ability to act in this capacity in the art of table-moving, 
etc. Fourth, the strength of this faith depends upon the 
depth of the impression produced upon the mind at the 
time. Fifth, this impression may have been unconsciously 
communicated from some other mind, or circumstance, or 
by the design of another, and in the same manner received. 
Sixth, the power to move tables, etc., may be the result of 
an individual's own experience, who may not be susceptible 
of mesmerism, which, of course, applies to all persons in- 
discriminately, the only condition being a self-relying con- 
fidence in their ability to thus operate, regardless of the 
source from whence this faith originates. For instance, 
let an individual commence and persevere until the 
smallest conceivable result is effected, such as the motion 
of the most insignificant body of matter, the motion of the 
planchette which every one can do and in this way, with- 



51 

out communicating any other physical force than that 
thrown upon it by the will, and he is furnished, although 
to a very limited extent, with the knowledge of his ability 
in this direction. After having become thus initiated, and 
supposing the individual to be familiar with the more 
astonishing exhibitions of others, greater things are 
attempted and successfully accomplished ; thus it is evi- 
dent that the degree of faith steadily increases, and as- 
sumes a degree of strength in exact proportion to the im- 
portance of the results thus produced, enabling the opera- 
tor to bring into requisition an increased amount of the 
mental force, which, upon the same principle, may be con- 
centrated and dispatched for the achievement of spirit 
manifestations ; thus it is evident that any individual may 
become a successful and powerful medium in the direction 
of thus moving objects. Here we are furnished with the 
philosophy of development. That all men are endowed 
to a limited extent with this power is evident from what 
has been accomplished in the performance of those simple 
tricks which from time immemorial have been produced 
by young people, supposing them to decide matrimonial 
destinies. Let us notice one or two of these as examples, 
and, first, let any two individuals sit down, facing each 
other, and then take a common door key and fasten the 
end of it opposite to the eye firmly between the leaves of 
an ordinary sized book, and then suspend the book between 
them, by letting the eye of the key rest on one of each of 
their forefingers, then let either of them will that the book 
shall revolve to right or left, as they please, and it will 
invariably obey such will until it swings so far around 
that it will fall from between their fingers. Another of 
these is performed thus : Let a finger-ring be suspended 
by a hair in the inside of a glass tumbler, the end of which 
must be held firmly between the thumb and finger, while 
the arm is resting in a position so that the hand can be 
held motionless, after which let the individual will, that 



52 

the ring shall vibrate back and forth, and it will do so until 
it strikes against the wall of the tumbler. In order to ap- 
preciate more fully the nature of the contact in this experi- 
ment between the object thus moved and the agency of the 
mind which caused its motion, it must be remembered that 
glass and hair, the external instruments employed in this 
experiment, are two of the most perfect non-conductors of 
electricity known. 

To illustrate this fact, in relation to hair, take a black 
cat into a dark room and rub your hand quickly over its 
back, and it will produce visible explosions of the electri- 
cal fluid, which is to be attributed to the resisting quality 
of the hair to electricity, which, being excited by the fric- 
tion thus produced, and unable to penetrate into the ani- 
mal, because of the thickness of its hair, therefore explodes 
on the surface. A corresponding experiment to this, and 
one which, in addition to proving the non-conductoral na- 
ture of hair, also proves the identity of electricity with 
this singular agency of the human mind, is as follows : 
Let an individual, while standing on an insulated stool, 
and after being highly charged from a galvanic battery, 
be examined, and what are commonly called goose pim- 
ples will be found to have arisen on the entire surface of 
his body, and on the top of which will be seen standing 
perpendicularly an isolated hair. The cause of this phe- 
nomenon is, that the individual becoming so highly charged 
with electricity, and which, while endeavoring to make its 
escape from the surface of the body, which, being so 
thickly dotted with little hairs, resists its passage, and 
thus forces the flesh on which each of them is located to 
thus rise. That this same result is produced by the mental 
agency is manifested under paroxysms of fear suddenly 
produced, the electrical substance under the control of the 
mind, which is thus alarmed, is called suddenly to the 
brain, its fountain, ready to be dispatched by the will to 
meet emergencies thus occasioned, which, being charged, 



53 

and even surcharged, so highly that a rush is made to 
escape through the cranium, but being resisted by the 
hair of the head, which, however, is itself electrified, and 
hence, assumes a perpendicular attitude. In covering the 
head so densely with hair, whose composition being of this 
character, affording the best possible protection to the 
brain, offering not only an external barrier to its escape, 
but also a defensive palladium from the attack of the 
electric fluid, as it flies during storms in every direction 
through the heavens, and which, when thus loosed, always 
seeks the best conductors through which to pass when in 
pursuit of its equilibrium, and hence avoids contact with 
the human head. But to prove conclusively that this 
phenomenon is produced by the direct and electric agent 
of the mind, and that it is also the same substance which 
emanates from a galvanic machine, let an dividual un- 
cover his arm, and lay it on a table so that it will rest 
easily ; let him then repeat audibly some sublime passage 
of prose or poetry which is calculated to deeply agitate 
his mind, producing in it that state denominated pathos, 
and at that moment he will discover that these little pyra- 
midal turrets have prominently risen on his arm, and on 
the top of each of which will also be visible an electrified 
hair. We are aware -that these are simple experiments ; 
but it must be remembered that the greatest discoveries 
of nature's laws, allied with her universal movements, 
have resulted from insignificant circumstances and events. 
The fall of an apple from a tree led to the discovery of 
universal gravity ; the bursting of a tea-kettle to the dis- 
covery of steam power ; and the flying of Franklin's kite 
led to the art of collecting and confining, within a Leyden 
jar, the "fearful lightning's" awful element, and which 
has finally resulted in bringing it so completely under the 
control of the mind, that it is chained to conducting-wires, 
and with its fiery-tinged fingers compelled to write its 
thoughts between city and city, continent and continent, 
in timeless velocity. 



54 



CHAPTER IV. 

WHY AKE SOME MAGNETICALLY IMPRESSIBLE. 

Now, if these stupendous achievements have resulted 
from such insignificant incidents, and if the mind has thus 
been compelled to climb the ascent of progress, from the 
smallest to the greatest, in the investigation of the works 
of inanimate nature, how much greater is this necessity 
when prosecuting an investigation into that grandest dis- 
play of Divine architecture — the mind of man ? In view 
of the arguments we have advanced, the most of which we 
have demon? :ated, by submission to experiment, we are 
willing to sul nit the question to any rational mind whether 
we have not succeeded in presenting clear and tangible 
principles, isolated or in combination, exhibiting the phil- 
osophic laws upon which the human mind acts in the pro- 
duction of that department of the spirit phenomena known 
as table-moving, and whether there is not here involved 
the key by which we may be prepared to open up and ex- 
pose to the light of day the most mysterious manifestation 
and profound secret embraced in the theory of spiritual- 
ism, plainly showing them all to have their origin in the 
laws of nature, and confined strictly within the limits of 
mental and natural science, or physiological power. 

Those who have taken the trouble to acquaint them- 
selves with the exhibitions of spiritualism must have dis- 
covered that their successful operations depended upon 
that condition of circumstances and things which are 
known to be indispensable to the successful performance 
of mesmeric and psychologic experiments, and if but very 
imperfect electricians, must have also discovered their con- 
nection and similarity with those requisite to the success- 
ful experiments with the galvanic machine. There is, for 



55 

instance, the formation of the spirit circle around a dining- 
table, which is sometimes produced by joining hands, and, 
at others, by mere sympathy. The principle of a circle, in 
the science of electrics, is one of its fundamental laws, in 
the absence of which all attempts at experiment must for- 
ever fail. In the performance of the spiritualists it is also 
true that opposing influences affect very materially, and 
sometimes render all manifestations impossible, such as 
the presence of incredulous persons and opposing wills. 
As proof of this, while we were, according to invitation, 
attending a spirit circle a few years since, in the city of 
Boston, we first endeavored to hold, by a decision of the 
will, the whole circle, determining that there should be no 
more raps, as answers to the questions propounded. We 
succeeded in this so far as to render them faint, irregular 
and confused, although on the same occasion, and up to 
that moment, they had been marked for distinctness and 
intelligence. But, as the raps were not entirely silenced, 
we changed the effort and fixed our will directly on the 
questioner, determined that there should be no more re- 
sponses to their interrogations, which perfectly succeeded, 
to the astonishment of the whole circle, each of whom 
made desperate efforts to obtain answers, but in vain. 
This was accomplished without intimating our design to 
the circle, which, if done, would have greatly added to our 
advantage, by distracting the concentration of their minds 
by the doubts thus suggested. 

The spirits often exhibit a donkey stubbornness, or at 
least are so peculiarly sensitive that, notwithstanding the 
earnest efforts of their mortal friends, they resolutely 
refuse to manifest themselves, unless the conjurers 
speedily eject such persons and wills from the room. 

Let an equal number of individuals, on any occasion, 
mingle with the spirit circle, who do not believe this to 
be the work of spirits, and do nothing more than simply 
express their opinions in regard to the phenomena, and 



56 

then fix their minds determinedly upon the questioners 
of the circle, willing that there shall be no manifestations 
on the occasion, and such will be the result, and according 
to the principle that that which has the power to hinder is 
also capable of producing under a reverse of circumstances, 
proves these phenomena to emanate, not from the spirits 
of the departed dead, but from those minds composing 
these circles. This is also true of the mesmeric and 
psychologic manifestations, which shuts us up again to 
the conclusion that they are phases of the same depart- 
ment of the mysterious science, as yet but very superfici- 
ally understood. 

One of the principal elements in the claims of the 
spiritualists is that they progress very rapidly in the 
spirit spheres; the ignorant become enlightened, the vi- 
cious virtuous, the low and vulgar-minded exalted and 
refined, and those who while on earth were captivated by 
the trio of wordly possessions, honors, pleasures and riches, 
now look upon these objects as unworthy even the pursuit 
of mortals. In regard to this claim, we would ask how it 
comports with that fretful, peevish, sensitive and stubborn 
disposition manifested to a greater or less degree by these 
returned spirits while mingling with their mortal friends 
in their nocturnal conclaves, which is true of them all, 
without regard to the elevation of the spherical locality 
from whence they have descended. Before evacuating 
the shows of the world, they had, perhaps, to some con- 
siderable degree, acquired these cardinal virtues of 
patience and forbearance with human weakness and 
frailty, so frequently manifested by coming in contact 
with circumstances not calculated to please. But now 
mark the change. Here we will suppose a little ignorant 
girl is acting as conjurer for the spirit circle, who have 
taken their places. She now sends her solemn summons 
to some exalted sphere, high up among the ethereal 
spheres, after some one from among the wise of antiquity 



57 

who lias thus ascended through a school of progressive 
discipline. The appeal is immediately heard among the 
starsome assembly of the -august personages, and about as 
quick as thought, among them is manifested by slight 
raps (which, by the way, exhibits a pusillanimous weak- 
ness in the widest contrast to the power of thundering 
Jove) a Plato, Socrates or Seneca, who, while living upon 
earth, ranked high among the ancient philosophers, and 
who had prided themselves, while human beings, in hav- 
ing attained to an elevation of stoical indifference to the 
trifling circumstances which deeply interested the mass 
of minds. But by the aid of these silly raps it is under- 
stood who from among the spherical fraternity thus mani- 
fests his presence. No sooner is this accomplished, and 
the whole company delighted with the anticipation of 
being favored with a communication from some one of 
these distinguished worthies, than the spirit manifests by 
raps its utter indisposition to make any revelations on the 
occasion, because, forsooth, there happens to be an indi- 
vidual present who has still succeeded in maintaining his 
rational equilibrium, or who does not believe these to be 
spirit noises. Efforts are made to overcome this nervous 
spleen of the aged spirit, but all to no purpose. Its vener- 
ableness becomes deeply interested in the expulsion from 
the room of the only individual who has not become 
bewitched by this spirit familiarity, and must be indulged, 
the circle must obey the demand, or else suffer the abrupt 
departure of the impatient Plato, peevish Socrates, or 
childish Seneca. 

From such facts as these, are we not furnished with 
conclusive evidence to refute the above claim of the spirit- 
ualists, showing, that instead of these ancient examples of 
philosophic learning having made progress since they be- 
came inhabitants of the ethereal spheres, that it were more 
proper to exclaim of them, " How have the mighty fallen ?" 

The philosopher Diogenes, of ancient renown, had, while 



58 

living, made such rapid progress in the contemplation of 
the works of nature and the great first cause, that he 
looked with a stoic dissatisfaction upon the honors, riches 
and pleasures of the world, well nigh that of contempt. 
To such a degree had his mind become elevated above all 
the splendor and pomp of the world, that a visit paid him 
by the man who had subjugated the known nations of the 
world to his sceptre, not only failed to excite the least sur- 
prise, but also to extort an admission of the superiority of 
his guest. " I am Alexander the Great," said the monarch ; 
" and I am Diogenes the Cynic," replied the philosopher, 
and then requested the monarch to " move from his sun- 
shine/' Alexander, being so impressed with the dignity 
and disinterestedness of the reply, is said to have ex- 
claimed : " Were I not Alexander, I would be Diogenes." 
But now behold the philosopher, after having been schooled 
in the spirit spheres for more than two thousand years, his 
attention is suddenly arrested, perhaps by an invocation 
sent up by a little girl, and bidding a hasty adieu to his 
fellow supernals, flies rapidly down from his ethereal 
sphere, and becomes intensely engaged, by the use of the 
rapping alphabet, in communicating the remarkable piece 
of information of the precise age of the questioner's grand- 
mother, and the date when the old lady died ; or, perhaps, 
lends an assisting hand to the other weaker spirits present 
to lift the legs of a dining-table over the sill of a doorway^ 
which had attempted to impede its motion from one room 
to another. Now, we submit whether, on the supposition 
that this is the real spirit of the philosopher Diogenes en- 
gaged in such trifling nonsense as this, if it would not be 
more just and appropriate to designate the spheres through 
which he had passed since his entrance there, by the use 
of such terms as retrogression and degeneracy, instead of 
progress and development ? And if happiness is not the 
result of weakness and degeneracy, then such spirits can- 
not be happy ; and does it not prove that the idea of the 



59 

spiritualists, that the body is only a carcass, and clog 
to mortal progress, that exactly the opposite is the truth ? 
But if this reflection is deemed too severe on the spirits, 
their modern apologists may offer, as a reason why they 
have not made more advancement in the cultivation of 
such virtues, the fact that ever since the advent of the 
Rochester knockings, they have been unable to take the 
least repose, having been kept forever on the wing, their 
conjurers having increased to such a prodigious host that 
nothing short of millions could be used in their enumera- 
tion ; like Noah's dove they were found hovering near the 
mortal shores, so that, having been dismissed from one 
circle, and not having time to reach the threshold of their 
home sphere, they might be ready to attend to the next 
solemn invocation for their immediate return. 

It is wonderful that these old spirits, thus doomed to 
perpetual locomotion, should not have made, long ere this, 
if they have not done so, an arrangement for changing 
their location, for the sake of convenience, to the mansion 
of Judge Edmonds, and others of like congeniality, where 
they would make more progress than they had done while 
climbing the trackless waste of etherealization. 

But we come now to the question, upon what principle 
of nature are spirit-raps produced? We have already 
shown that electricity, in its animal adaptation, commonly 
called animal magnetism, was the real philosophical me- 
dium, or mental agency, by which these phenomena were 
effected ; but to render this important point still more 
clear and conclusive, let us consider the philosophy of a 
vacuum, as an illustration. 

In order to form a scientific idea of a vacuum, it is 
necessary to take into consideration, at least, partially, the 
relative density of different fluid substances. A vacuum 
is simply the result of the displacement of a denser fluid 
by one of a more sublimated texture. ' When this occurs, 
to a certain degree, by an artificial apparatus, and the 



60 

vacuity thus formed is suddenly exposed to the free in- 
gress of the atmosphere, the result is a report, occasioned 
by the concussion of those elements again coming together 
while seeking the restoration of their natural equilibrium. 
According to this principle, it is evident that the volume 
or intensity of the report thus occasioned must be in pro- 
portion to the relative solidity of those substances by 
which the vacuum was produced, in connection with the 
degree of the velocity which they travel. For instance, 
if common air is displaced by one of its constituent gases 
to a very limited degree the equilibrium may be restored 
without producing a report sufficiently loud so as to be 
heard, but if the entire volume is thus removed, by an air 
pump, from a vessel, leaving nothing but electricity, which 
is of a nature so subtle that it cannot be thus excluded, 
which is proved by the fact that the needle will answer at 
its walls, but when the vacuum is thus formed, and the ves- 
sel itself made of such material that its walls are unable 
to resist the external pressure of the atmosphere, which 
is fifteen pounds to the square inch, will, consequently, 
yield to it, and the report will be as loud as the discharge 
of a musket. This same phenomenon is witnessed, only 
on a more magnificent scale, during a thunder-storm, two 
clouds are driven by the wind until they come within what is 
called striking distance of each other, which distance de- 
pends upon the relative degree of positive and negative 
they sustain, but when they thus approximate, the great 
law of equilibrium, which applies equally to all the ele- 
ments of nature, requires that the electric discharge shall 
take place, which is accordingly done, the fluid passing 
from the positive to the negative cloud, cutting asunder 
the atmosphere through which it passes, thus producing 
a vacuum, the closing of which sends forth the explosive 
report, shaking the ethereal empyrean with its awful 
voice. 

As electricity in all of its modifications, whether in its 



61 

highest form of sublimation as pure electricity, or entering 
into minerals or other compound bodies of inanimate 
nature, as galvanism, or as coursing through the physico- 
logical formation of animal life, as animal magnetism is 
nevertheless the same common substance, manifesting like 
characteristics and governed by the same laws, and as all 
substances are susceptible of a degree of motion in propor- 
tion to that of their density, its motion therefore being the 
most rapid creates the most perfect vacuum in its gambols 
through the universe, and by the closing of which the most 
terrific reports are produced, and hence it is necessary that 
but a very small quantity of this fluid is required to be 
thrown from the brain of an individual or a spirit circle by 
an act of the will upon any object, provided it be a hard 
one, such as a table, in order to produce a vacuum, the 
closing of which must also produce a report, and hence are 
we furnished with the philosophy of the Rochester knock- 
ings, or spirit raps, According to this principle, it will be 
perceived, that the greater the number of mediums com- 
posing a circle, other things being equal, or the greater 
degree of impressibility of which they are susceptible, the 
louder in proportion will be the raps, because the vacuum 
thus formed will be the more perfect. For the informa- 
tion of those who may never have attended the spirit circle 
we would say, that the raps should be called ticks, and are 
far from being what may be called noisy ; indeed, we have 
never heard one of them which seemed as loud as the tick 
of common house-clocks ; they usually resemble the sound 
produced by the feet of a very small bird while walking 
on the roof of a house, as heard in the garret below. 

The principle of these noises most perfectly illustrate 
the phenomena of haunted houses. It is a notorious fact, 
in relation to those houses which are supposed to be haunt- 
ed by the spirits of the departed dead, that all persons, 
indiscriminately, do not hear them when alone, while others 
of unquestionable veracity and discrimination declare that 



62 

they, not only hear those noises, but are sometimes terri- 
fied at beholding the ghostly apparitions themselves. The 
solution of this mystery is found in the fact that all per- 
sons do not succeed equally in producing the spirit mani- 
festations, or are not mediums. The fact is that it is as 
necessary that a mesmeric subject should be present, in 
order to enable the supposed ghosts in the haunted man- 
sions to produce their noises and make themselves mani- 
fest to the sight, as that persons possessed of this peculiar 
magnetic temperament should be present and mingle with 
the spirit circle, in order to produce the spirit phenomena, 
and for the same reason. Hence we are able to account 
for the fact that one family may reside for years in such 
houses and never see or hear any thing of an unusual 
character, while other families, through this source of 
annoyance, are induced to vacate them, and often to sell 
them at a great sacrifice. The philosophy of this mystery 
must, therefore, be of importance to such house-holders. 
If they hear such noises, it is because some members of 
the household are susceptible of the mesmeric influence, 
or are mediums, and, as a remedy, we would suggest that 
such individuals should be magnetized to sound sleep, and 
while in this condition their minds be impressed by the 
magnetizer that these noises will no more be heard in that 
house, which can be done by his declaring to them posi- 
tively that such will be the case, and the difficulty, so far 
as that family is concerned, will forever cease. 

In this philosophy we also are furnished with the clue 
to witchcraft, and had it been understood prior to that 
terrible period which raged for more than two centuries 
in England and America, the history of the world would 
never have been stained by the murderous tragedies of 
the dark and bloody annals of witchcraft. Innocent men 
and women, and even small children, were made witches, 
by being charged positively, either maliciously or igno- 
rantly, with this crime, their minds being susceptible of 






63 



that magnetic impressibleness that they immediately sup- 
posed themselves thus guilty, and on their own confession 
were taken to the gallows, or stake, and there executed, 
nothing having been proven against them. Such indi- 
viduals were simply the natural mediums of that age, or 
those who were susceptible of mesmerism, the least effort 
being all that is requisite in order to induce it, and which 
is often accomplished by the sympathy of other minds, 
without the least design on their part. 



64 



CHAPTER V. 

THE SPIRITS ONLY KNOW WHAT THE QUESTIONER KNOWS. 

Here we behold one of the distinguishing characteristics 
of truth, whether of science or revelation, that when a true 
principle or doctrine is discovered, its natural associations 
are found clustering thick around, as so many witnesses, 
anxious to give in confirmatory testimony, and not only 
suggests new truths for our contemplation, but opens up 
whole trains of thought, before whose glowing effulgence 
mysticism and fictitious theories vanish like the twinkling 
stars before the rising sun of the morning. Having now 
succeeded in presenting what we understand to be the 
philosophy of the spirit raps, we pass to examine the 
method of spirit communication, through what are called 
writing mediums. These, it is supposed, are under the 
especial and absolute control of foreign spirits. 

The appearance of these persons, while engaged in 
writing, is so identical with those while in the mesmeric 
state, that it clearly shows them to be one and the same 
thing ; they exhibit rigidity of muscle, and sometimes 
frightful contortions of feature, convulsing the whole 
frame ; when these excitable paroxysms are upon them, 
they seize a pen or pencil, and write sentences for the edi- 
fication of the conjuring circle. Whoever have witnessed 
mesmeric and psychologic experiments are familiar with 
the fact, that persons while under this influence are sub- 
ject to the most absolute control of other minds ; they could 
see, hear, smell, taste, and feel only according to the will 
and suggestions of those individuals who had thus im- 
pressed them ; their instruments of volition could move 
only as they were permitted ; not a step could be taken, 



65 

an arm raised, or a finger moved, unless the operator thus 
willed or suggested. 

How much more astonishing that the volition of a man 
should be thus destroyed and then controlled just like a 
machine, by the mere will of another, without contact — that 
is, without touching him directly or indirectly, than that a 
table should be thus moved, which had no power of resist- 
ance. 

There seems to be two classes of persons thus suscepti- 
ble. The one can be controlled only by suggestions made 
in an audible voice ; the other can be thus controlled sim- 
ply by an act of the will, without an effort or motion, or a 
word being spoken. The latter class are those who have 
been mesmerized to sleep, or who are thus very suscepti- 
ble, while the former have not been thus affected, and, per- 
haps, are not very susceptible ; such do not make writing 
mediums. In the performance of these experiments it 
must also have been discovered that the most ridiculous 
and absurd impressions were produced upon the minds of 
such individuals, and which to them seemed all reality, 
proved by the corresponding action to which they applied 
themselves while under this hallucination. 

They were made to believe themselves locomotives, and 
while thus impressed, would endeavor to put themselves 
into the shape of that machine. In these experiments we 
have seen individuals, the government of whose minds and 
of whose voluntary organizations had passed from them- 
selves to the minds of others so completely, that not a 
thought could be entertained or a muscle moved, except at 
the dictation, or according to the will and volition of 
another. They could see, hear, taste, smell and feel only 
such objects as he who had impressed them permitted, and 
even then having no power of accurately distinguishing 
between them, confounding water for wine and wine for 
water, etc. Another fact in relation to individuals thus 
susceptible, is, that, after. having been habitually subjected 

5 



66 

to these experiments, they acquire such a degree of this 
sympathetic impressibility that they go into this state by a 
mere word or look of another ; and we have known per- 
sons thus susceptible to such a degree that they were un. 
able to resist the magnetic sleep in the presence of those 
who had been in the habit of thus affecting them ; and we 
have also known those who could induce this state in 
themselves, by a mere decision to do so, and who would, 
even then, appear perfectly awake. These are the highest 
developed mediums. To illustrate : Here is a writing me- 
dium, who has taken her seat at the table, for the purpose 
of communicating, or of being the medium of spirit com- 
munication. An individual present is desirous of having 
a communication, in writing, in relation to a subject which 
lies alone concealed in his own mind. The medium is im- 
mediately thrown into a state of magnetic sympathy with 
his mind, evinced by the rigidity and contortions of the 
muscles, the common indications of the magnetic condi- 
tion. Not a word is spoken, nor an intelligent sign made, 
by which it would be possible for even the shrewdest mind 
to give even a garbled answer to what the anxious inquirer 
desires to be made known ; but, notwithstanding this, the 
medium grasps a pen and writes the very sentence or sen- 
tences containing the precise information the individual 
desired to be revealed. In view of these facts, can any 
thing be more conclusive than that these achievements of 
the writing mediums are simply those of mesmeric or psy- 
chologic phenomena, whose origin is therefore to be traced 
to the same common source ? What reason can there be 
assigned for ascribing the impulse under which these me- 
diums act to the intervening agency of some supernal 
inhabitant of the unseen state, or to any other power than 
that of simple animal magnetism, and that it is thus 
adapted demonstrates it to be the only medium, or agency 
employed in producing these effects ? 

This medium, after having consented to be the organ 



67 

of communication on the occasion, stands in the same rela- 
tion to the mind of the inquirer as the mesmerized subject 
does to the mind of him who is experimenting upon him, 
the manifestations of both being perfectly analogous, as it 
respects the voluntary and involuntary movements of each, 
as well as the common characteristics of intelligence mani- 
fested by the mesmerized subjects and the writing medi- 
ums. Indeed, we may go still further, and say that the 
medium, while thus writing, sustains the same relation to 
the mind of the individual who is impressing or question- 
ing them, which is the same thing, while in this medium 
condition, as the pen does to the mind of him who holds it 
in his own hand, and no more perfectly obeys the decisions 
of his will, in transcribing his own thoughts to paper, than 
does the mind, and, consequently, the hand and pen in it, 
of the medium, thus obey. This handwriting of the medi- 
um will also be a good imitation of that of the individual 
whose thoughts are being thus transcribed. But there is 
an important feature connected with the spirit writing, 
unless taken into consideration, the uniformity of the re- 
sults would seem to be really contradictory, which is that 
they do not always write about that precise subject or 
imitate the handwriting desired by any number or of any 
member of the circle present on the occasion, though they 
should not only desire but will that this should be done 
(which feature, by the way, is one also of mesmerism). 
But this apparent discrepancy is to be attributed to that 
well-known law of the mind, which provides that an indi- 
vidual may be acting under the decision of his own will, 
while at the same time his mind may be engaged with 
other thoughts and subjects, entirely disconnected with 
such action. To illustrate, let us refer to our own loco- 
motion, which may be compared to the running of a time- 
piece, which, being wound up, continues its motion until 
the impulse thus communicated to it becomes exhausted. 
We will suppose an individual commences and intends to 



68 

walk one mile distant: at the outset his feet are set in 
motion by the will, communicating to them a sufficient 
quantity of the nervous force to enable them to transport 
his body the given distance, after which it is unnecessary 
to pay the least attention to his own locomotion, but his 
mind may be intently occupied by the contemplation of 
other matters, and yet every step is under the control of 
the will, and is therefore voluntary action. 

From this principle of the philosophy of mind, it is evi- 
dent that the medium may be writing or acting, on one 
occasion by an impulse communicated or impressed upon 
his mind, on some former one, and even by an individual 
who has been long absent or even dead, the impression 
being called into vivid remembrance by some similar 
thought or circumstance suggested on the occasion, and 
being of greater strength than any of those thus produced, 
the medium therefore writes about it, and the hand- 
writing will also resemble that of the party who produced 
the impression. In order to account for the confusion 
which sometimes occurs by these written communications 
and rapping responses, it must be remembered that two 
or more individuals may be impressing the mind of the 
medium at the same time ; but with these apparent excep- 
tions thus accounted for, these written communications 
correspond with the thoughts and handwriting of that 
individual who had produced the strongest impression on 
the mind of the medium at the moment when the writing 
was being executed. 

According to this principle, it is also evident that me- 
diums may thus write a much better hand and produce a 
more elevated style of composition than they would be 
able to do in their natural state of mind. This, however, 
would depend entirely upon whether the handwriting and 
composing qualifications of the individual who had pro- 
duced the impression, under whose impulse the writing 
was executed, was superior to his own. These persons 






69 



having thus lost the entire control over their own mind, 
and consequently over that of their limbs, act under the 
necessity of other minds, it follows that, if but a single 
individual was in communication with a medium at one 
time, the handwriting and substance of the communica- 
tion would be a perfect duplicate of those of that individ- 
ual, and the thoughts which were most prominent in his 
mind would be thus revealed ; this result, however, would 
be changed if this individual's mind was occupied at that 
particular moment with the handwriting and historic facts 
of another individual with which he had been acquainted, 
although now absent or dead. 

It is evident, also, according to this principle, that good 
mediums would be able to write sentences of languages 
of which they had no knowledge, and they might also 
understand their meaning ; this, however, would depend 
upon whether such meaning was understood by the indi- 
vidual from whose mind the medium had caught these 
sentences. What can be more conclusive, from these facts 
and principles, than that the supposed spirit-manifestations 
are comprehended within the magnetic laws of the minds 
of living, human beings, reciprocally acting on each other ? 
But, in addition to all this, we here present some extracts 
from a paper read by Dr. Bell as the report of a committee 
before the superintendents of the insane hospital of the 
city of Boston, which was published some few years since 
in the American Journal of Insanity. 

Dr. Bell commenced by expressed surprise at finding 
that, although the previous year so large a number of per- 
sons whose lives were spent in investigating the reciprocal 
influences of mind and body, scarcely a single member 
had bestowed a moment's attention on a topic directly in 
their way, which, whether regarded as an epidemic, mental 
delusion, or as a new psychologic science, w r as producing 
such momentous effects upon the world, — w r hose adherents 
are now said to number over two millions, with an ex- 



70 

tended literature, a talented periodical press in many 
forms, and which had taken hold of many minds of sound- 
ness and power. I am well, said he, aware that many were 
disposed to cast ridicule on those who were engaged in inves- 
tigating the spiritual phenomena, and especially when it 
was being prosecuted seriously by hospital directors, but if 
there were any class of men who had duties in this direc- 
tion it was ourselves. Our reports contain the record of 
many cases of insanity said to have been produced by it ; 
it was important, therefore, whether true or false, or mixed 
with both, that its precise length, breadth and nature 
should be studied, as it is well known that mystery always 
loses its terrific character when boldly met and exposed to 
the light of day. The Doctor remarked to his associates that, 
on returning from Washington, I had a peculiar wish to 
verify my previous observations on witnessing what are 
technically known as the physical manifestations of the 
new science ; I could not, however, doubt my former per- 
sonal observations, addressed to my senses of sight, hear- 
ing and touch, and separated, as I believe, from any possi- 
bility of error or collusion, and yet the offer made by Prof. 
Henry of a large sum of money to any person who would 
make one of his tables in the Smithsonian Institute move, 
and the obvious incredulity of many of the brothers, had 
produced an ardent desire to witness a full and unequiv- 
ocal experiment of this character. An opportunity was 
not long wanting : On the occasion of a well-known gen- 
tleman, long connected with the insane, who had never 
witnessed any of these phenomena, whom I invited to 
accompany me to a family where a medium of considerable 
power was visiting. This family was one of the most res- 
pectable in the vicinity, the head of it being a gentleman 
with whom was intrusted millions of dollars of other 
peopled money, as the financial manager of a large bank- 
ing institution, who, with his wife, had been for years per- 



I 



71 

fectly convinced of the spiritual character of these mani- 
festations. 

The medium was a young lady of about eighteen years, 
of a very slight figure, and weighing between eighty and 
ninety pounds, and who had discovered herself to be a 
medium while visiting these distant relatives. A family 
of such a character and position in society was beyond sus- 
picion or any thing like irregularity, collusion or fraud. 
We were so fortunate as to find the medium at home, and 
the circle was composed of the Hye individuals named. 
The ordinary manifestations of raps, beating of musical 
instruments, and responses to mental and spoken questions 
were remarkable on this occasion, as well as the movements 
of the table under the contact of mere finger-ends ; finding 
circumstances so favorable for an exhibition of more aston- 
ishing things, I proposed to try the great experimentum- 
cruses of the physical manifestations, which is the moving of 
the table without human contact, that is, without touching 
it directly or indirectly. I arranged things to suit myself, 
beginning by opening the table wider than common, and 
inserting two movable leaves, increasing its length to 
about ten feet. This gave me an opportunity to clearly 
discover any wires or machinery which might have been 
attached to it, as well as to enable me to answer positively 
as to their non-existence. The table was a solid structure of 
black walnut, with six carved legs and castors attached to 
them, and of such a great weight that I could but just 
move it by a full grasp of the thumb and finger of both 
hands. The persons stood three on one side and two on 
the other, with a space, between them and the table, about 
eighteen inches. Being tall, I had no difficulty in seeing 
between the table and all the persons present. 

At a request, the table commenced its motion with a 
moderate speed, occasionally halting and then gliding 
along a foot or two at once. It seemed to me that its mo- 
tion would have been continuous if the hands above it had 



72 

followed it in the same position which they occupied at 
the first, in reaching the iron rod on which the folding- 
doors traversed, which projected a half or three-fourths of 
an inch from the level of the carpet, it raised at once over 
it, entering the other parlor, through which it passed, until 
it came near a pier glass which stood at the opposite side 
of the room ; at a request, the motion was reversed and it 
returned until it again reached the iron rod. Here, how- 
ever, it stuck, although it hove and creaked and struggled ; 
but all in vain, it could not surmount the difficulty. The 
medium wa3 then impressed by the spirits to write, and, 
seizing a pencil, hastily wrote that if the fore legs were 
lifted over the bar, they (the spirits) thought they could 
push the others over, which was accordingly done and the 
motion continued. Once or twice during the movement of 
the table, I requested the whole circle to withdraw a little 
further from it, in order to see how far the influence 
would extend, and it was found that, when a greater dis- 
tance was reached (say two feet), the movement ceased, 
and a delay of three or four minutes occurred before it 
recommenced, conveying the idea that, if broken off, a cer- 
tain re-accumulation of force was necessary in order to put 
it again in motion. The table finally reached the upper 
end of the parlor from which it started, about four feet 
from the meridian line of the room. I expressed my 
gratitude to the company for the very complete exhibition 
with which we had been favored, but remarked that it 
would be enhanced if the spirits would move the table 
about four feet at right angles, so that the chairs would 
come right again for their late occupants, which was im- 
mediately done. The performance was so perfect and 
satisfactory that nothing more was asked on the occasion. 
This (remarked Dr. Bell) was the sixth time I have seen 
tables move without human contact, and all under circum- 
stances apparently as free from suspicion as that just 
described. I might have stated that the table traveled on 
this occasion over fifty feet. 



73 
CHAPTEE VI. 

THE PHILOSOPHY OP THOUGHT. 

A clergyman of extraordinary sagacious perceptions took 
this medium home with him, where she had never been 
before, and, in the presence of his family alone, one of his 
own tables was made to go through the fullest locomotion, 
without human contact. Dr. Bell then passed to consider 
the topic of responses to verbal and mental questions, and 
gave several long narrations, coming from what purported 
to be the spirits of persons long since dead, in which every 
question which he could devise, relating to matters known 
only to himself, were put and answered correctly ; some of 
which were put mentally (or without speaking) had a 
half-dozen replies, all of which were correct, forbidding 
the idea that they depended on the doctrine of coincidence, 
chance, or contingency. These mental questions also nega- 
tive the explanation of previous knowledge on the part of 
the medium ; to give a general idea of their character, Dr. 
Bell gave a brief extract of one of them. I had frequently 
remarked to my spiritual friends, that if any medium 
could reproduce the essential features of a final interview 
between myself and a deceased brother, which occurred in 
1826, I should be almost compelled to admit it came from 
his spirit. 

A few weeks after one of these requests, I attended a 
circle, and what purported to be the spirit of that brother 
narrated all these particulars, which were of a character 
so peculiar, that it was impossible to confound them 
with generalities. Early, however, while I was prosecut- 
ing these investigations, I found that, however correct 
the spiritual responses were, the truth of which was 
unknown to myself, uniform failure was the consequence ; 



74 

and sometimes, when I believed at the time the answers 
were correct, subsequent information showed I had been 
mistaken, the facts being directly otherwise than I had 
supposed. Pursuing this train of inquiry, I also found 
that, although the spirits averred they could see me dis- 
tinctly face to face, yet they could never read the signa- 
tures taken from an old file and unfolded without any one 
having seen them on the occasion ; nevertheless, as soon as 
I had cast my eyes upon those signatures, without allowing 
any one else to see them, they were promptly and correctly 
reproduced by the alphabetical rappings. I had also made 
repeated arrangements with my family to the effect that 
certain things were to be done by them, myself not know 
ing what, after my departure from the house, at intervals 
of fifteen minutes, at which particular intervals I was to 
inquire of the spirits what was done by my family, and 
the result was also uniform failure. I also proved that 
the theory of the spiritualists, when called to meet such 
difficulties, was untenable, namely, that evil or trifling 
spirits interposed at their end of the telegraph, by the 
fact that responses immediately before and after these 
gross failures had been eminently and wonderfully correct, 
and the same spirits had not only declared that they saw 
with perfect clearness all that was going on at my house 
during these movements of things, but they also denied as 
emphatically that there had been any interference or inter- 
ruption of such things there, all of which was contrary to 
the facts in the case. 

I further exposed this theory by putting test-questions, 
involving replies designedly intermixed with the known 
and the unknown, and the invariable result was that the 
known questions, however curious or remote, were per- 
fectly accurate, while the responses to the unknown were 
nothing but a set of wild and blundering errors, often be- 
ing formed out of the phraseology of the questions pro- 
posed, something like a school-boy guessing for a reply. 



75 

The result to which Dr. Bell and his friends — for several 
gentlemen of eminently befitting talents assisted him in 
prosecuting these investigations — came, was briefly that 
what the questioner knows the spirits know, and what he 
does not know the spirits are entirely ignorant of, and 
that there are no superhuman agencies involved in these 
phenomena, or connection with another state of existence ; 
but that it bears strong analogies to clairvoyance, in that 
mysterious science of animal magnetism, a knowledge of 
which has been advancing and receding for the last hun- 
dred years. He also thought that there was reason to be- 
lieve that the matter reproduced might not only come 
from the mind of the questioner himself, but that it might 
also be evolved from that of any member of a circle. He 
made some observations upon the evidences of the spirit 
existence, drawn from the character of the compositions 
communicated by the mediums while in the state of im- 
pression ; of course the quality of such composition is 
more or less a mere matter of taste ; much of it is elevated, 
indicating a high intellectual and moral capacity of the 
minds of those from whom it originated ; much more of 
it is, however, purely absurd and disgusting, infinitely be- 
low the grade' of the human productions of the same 
minds from whence they profess to have emanated. Indeed, 
the spiritual revelations has given us nothing yet of such 
extraordinary value or novelty as to stamp it in the judg- 
ment of unprejudiced minds as being of supermundane 
production. 

Dr. Bell alluded to a treatise which an earnest spiritualist 
had put into his hands, purporting to be the work of Thos. 
Paine, the author of the Age of Reason, and which was 
supposed to be calculated to carry conviction to any mind 
of its spirit origin. The book professed to contain a full 
explanation of the formation and changes of the earth. 
The truth, however, being that whether it originated in a 
mind celestial or terrestrial, it was, nevertheless, grossly 



76 

ignorant of the very first rudiments of chemical philoso- 
phy ; on every page appeared the most ridiculous blun- 
ders in regard to matters as demonstrable as mathematics, 
and to which of course the answer could not be made that 
they were revelations too high for the comprehension of 
ordinary minds. He remarked that the most elevated 
specimens of the spiritual literature would be from Swe- 
denborg and Lord Bacon, and whoever would compare 
those contained in the first and second volumes of Judge 
Edmonds and Dr. Dexter, with the elegant and powerful 
preliminary treatises of these men while living, would 
probably be convinced that, although Swedenborg and 
Bacon had been inhabitants of the spirit spheres severally 
for one and two centuries, they had not equaled their un- 
pretending amanuensis while in the vale of tears. He 
closed the report by expressing his firm conviction that 
while faith in spirits must be abandoned as connected with 
these phenomena, yet, whether the topic be regarded as a 
delusion or a physical novelty, it was worthy the fullest 
examination, because it is a fact which cannot be denied 
that it was cutting its way deeply into the religious prin- 
ciples of our people. These great, novel and interesting 
facts have not been treated as respectfully and fairly as 
they should have been, the effect of which was that the 
community, knowing of their existence, if human senses 
could be trusted, turned from those who should have 
thrown light on these mysteries, but who could or would 
not, to those who gave some explanation, even though it 
was one which uprooted all our previous forms of relig- 
ious faith. He regarded the question as to the existence 
of spirits with these phenomena, as of so much more im- 
portance than any other connected with them, that he had 
purposely omitted many curious and interesting facts in 
order to its solution. 

How does this course of Dr. Bell and his friends, in in- 
vestigating this subject, contrast with that pursued by 



77 

Judge Edmonds while engaged in the same pursuit ? Had 
he pursued this investigation as patiently and laboriously 
as he did that of the supposed spirit origin of these phe- 
nomena, he could never have become a spiritualist, and 
surely there are startling truths manifested by the clair- 
voyant, and animal magnetic influence of mind acting on 
mind, which comes within the natural laws of mental 
power, where his mind, and any other of our common race, 
might have spent their strength without having succeeded 
in bringing out of its vast profundity the entire philosophy 
here involved. Nothing can be more evident, from Judge 
Edmonds' own account of his investigations, than that he 
exhibited strong proclivities to the idea of the connection 
of spirits with these phenomena, and which predisposed 
him to believe its most marvelous suggestion, although 
furnished with no more magnificent and strange manifes- 
tations than was Dr. Bell and thousands of others of equal 
sagacity and penetrating powers of mind, and, we may 
add, as fearless champions of truth, and as willing to 
make sacrifices for its development and diffusion among 
men as that professed by Edmonds. How marked was 
his patience and perseverance in his researches among the 
spirit circles in comparison with that superficiality which 
characterized his researches among the natural laws of 
mind, developed in the electric phenomena of the mag- 
netic sleep, and yet intelligently wakeful, and the latter 
discovery of psychological mystery, until their sources of 
knowledge were exhausted, which could only be done by 
a perfect comprehension of all the laws of the organized 
mind of human beings. How vain and absurd to set up 
the claim of spirit interference in any phase of intellect- 
ual intercourse and manifestation of physical power. In 
the absence of this knowledge, as well might it be said 
of steam, prior to the discovery of its power, that it was 
incapable and inadapted to produce the wonderments which 
now have ceased to astonish the world ; and more so of the 



78 

incapability of electricity to communicate intelligent mes- 
sages from city to city in the " twinkling of an eye," be- 
fore this discovery by Morse. But it is a consoling thought 
that, though all the present devotees of spiritualism con- 
tinue to pay their devotions at the incomprehensible shrine 
of spiritualism, yet there are others, to say the least, as 
well qualified to expose the sophistry and false reasoning 
of the spirit theory. 

Here is opened a field of intense interest and inconceiv- 
able importance to the well-being of human society, where 
impartial investigation not only invites but also imposes 
duty, especially on the friends of the Bible. Let these first 
discovered rays of scientific light which are thought to be at 
variance with its sacred claim to divine origin be met with 
this powerful weapon, in connection with true philosophy, 
in opposition and exposition of the unfounded claims of the 
spiritualists and its abominations of spirit familiarity ; let 
the invitations to attend the spirit-circles be answered by 
the words of Scripture : " When they shall say unto you* 
seek unto them that hath familiar spirits and unto wizards 
that peep and that mutter, and that seek for the living 
among the dead," " To the law and to the testimony ; if 
they speak not according to this word, it is because there 
is no light in them." 

Although we have already alluded to the philosophy of 
human intelligence, and briefly to those natural laws by 
which it is communicated between mind and mind, yet it 
becomes necessary, in order to account for the intellectual- 
ity of spiritualism, to examine somewhat more extensively 
the physical organism involved it its manifestation. 
When we speak of human intelligence, it is not to be con- 
sidered in the light of an abstract thing or personality, 
but simply as comprehending those thoughts and ideas 
which have resulted from mental exercise, involving the 
interdependence of organic brain, external channels of 
communication, and objects or circumstances with which 



79 

the mind comes in contact, and which convey their respect- 
ive impressions through these organs to the mental sen- 
sorium. As these limits are sufficiently extensive to com- 
prehend all the intelligence spiritualism manifests, it 
would be at least superfluous to indulge in any specula- 
tion in regard to the manner of its existence beyond the 
sphere of humanity. It is, therefore, entirely foreign to 
the discussion whether the soul pre-existed, as some of the 
ancients taught, in an intellectual capacity, or whether in 
such a state it survives the dissolution of the body. But 
what we shall attempt to prove is, that in its present 
organized nature the mind as absolutely depends on phys- 
ical organs for the development of its functions of thought 
and intelligence as the body derives its vitality from a 
corresponding arrangement of organs of life and nutri- 
ment; we are, therefore, unwilling to take one step 
beyond those laws through which the sentient mind mani- 
fests itself and by which it becomes itself intelligent. 

Neither are we obliged or willing to assume the position 
that intelligent beings cannot exist unless organized out of 
the same gross materials as those which enter into the form- 
ation of the present race of mankind, or that it is indispens- 
able to such existence that they should be under the control 
and government of the same or similar physical laws, which 
are essential to human nature. The idea for which we con- 
tend is simply that all the knowledge possessed, by what- 
ever member of our common race, has been acquired 
through the medium of certain fixed and invariable laws, 
which laws themselves constitute an inherent and insepar- 
able department of the nature of man himself, constitut- 
ing him an intelligent being. The remark is often made 
in regard to certain individuals that they possess great nat- 
ural abilities or natural talents, and similar expressions, 
by which it would seem that the idea intended to be con- 
veyed is that the knowledge of such persons is natural or 
intuitive ; but if any thing more is designed by such ex- 



80 

pressions than that they exhibit a remarkable readiness to 
acquire and reduce to practice useful knowledge, distin- 
guishing them from the generality of men, then their pro- 
priety, and even truthfulness, is to be questioned. This 
is evident from the fact that the simplest phase of human 
knowledge is only obtained through external objects or 
circumstantial impressions, resulting in conclusions or 
thoughts evolved from what is properly termed the exer- 
cise of the mind, but each of which must have been pre- 
viously submitted to the reasoning powers ; or, the exercise 
of the phrenological laws of intellect, such, for instance, 
as individuality, causality and comparison, all of which are 
the essential antecedents to the conception of the most 
unimportant idea. 

It is true there are often impressions injected into the 
mind which add nothing to the intelligence of their recip- 
ient ; this, however, is owing to the fact, if we may so 
speak, that they are never finished, and hence are not, 
properly speaking, thoughts ; such are dismissed from the 
mind, after having been revolved over for a time by the 
intellectual powers. This may be for the want of sufficient 
evidence to confirm them, if such is required, or for the 
lack of the association of similarities requisite to illustrate 
their nature ; or perhaps for the mental inability of the 
individual to comprehend their signification. It is true 
such thoughts, if we may so designate them, may be held 
by the mind for a time in suspense, but eventually be en- 
tirely obliterated from the domain of intellect, leaving no 
inscription of their transient visit. That this is a correct 
principle of mental philosophy is evident from the fact 
that it requires a conclusion in regard to any matter what- 
ever, in order that an impression sufficiently intense may 
be produced on the mind, so as to imprint it firmly and per- 
manently upon its living tablets. It is obvious, therefore, 
that, by the endowment of phrenological organs and the 
five senses with which they are actively connected, man is 






81 

Bimply a sentient being, but in no degree possessed of 
knowledge or intelligence. 

But let us examine with more perspicuity those pre- 
requisites to the acquisition of human knowledge, in regard 
to which we remark that the possession of at least one of 
the five senses is indispensable to this end. The five or- 
ganic senses are so many distinct and independent chan- 
nels of communication through which the mind receives 
the respective images of objects, descriptions of objects, 
and things with which it comes in contact, and on whose 
physical tablets they are correspondingly and indelibly 
transcribed. The fact that the senses are distinct and act 
independently of each other involves the conclusion that 
any number of them may exist in an active and healthy 
condition in the absence of any other number in the same 
state ; for instance, an individual may be deprived of the 
senses of seeing, hearing, smelling and tasting, and if that 
of touch or feeling remains and is active, he would never- 
theless be intelligent — we mean, of course, if such had 
always been his condition; but while this must be con- 
ceded, it is also true that it would be impossible for such 
an individual to acquire that degree of knowledge of 
which he would have been capable if he had not suffered 
this deprivation. 



82 



CHAPTER VII. 

RELATION OF PHYSICAL ORGANS TO THOUGHT. 

To illustrate, let us suppose him to have been born 
blind, the consequence of which would have forever de- 
prived him of all that class of ideas which are derived alone 
through the medium of color ; in nowise would he be able 
to appreciate the splendor of heaven's starry canopy, or 
comprehend the indescribable beauty of the hues, tints, 
and shades of nature's expansive scenery. And so, also, 
if he were deprived in like manner of the sense of hear- 
ing, he could never have had the least idea of all that 
class of impressions which reach the mind only through 
the medium of sound ; the melody of artistic music, or the 
artless notes of the warblers of the field and forest would 
never have woke his almost dormant mind to their exist- 
ence. And so, also, if he were born without the sense of 
smell, 

"The odoriferous breeze 

That scents the balmy air, 

And murmurs o'er the leas, 

Scattering perfumes there," 

would never have sent into the dark chambers of his mind 
one suggestion of their existence, and, therefore, he could 
have no knowledge as derived from this source. Now, if 
we proceed one step farther and deprive the individual of 
the last or remaining organ of sense, that of touch, we 
have presented for our contemplation a most perfect speci- 
men of idiocy, and which, as we have seen, is only the 
necessary result of being deprived of the active existence 
of the five organic senses, rendered inoperative simply by 
physical derangement. Hence the correctness of the posi- 
tion that the healthy possession of all the external organs 



83 

of sense are indispensable prerequisites to the possession 
and development of the largest degree of intellectuality, 
and also the necessary possession of at least one of those 
senses in an active and healthy condition in order to render 
its possessor in any degree intelligent. 

Having now considered the ordinary laws of mind, by 
which the rudiments of knowledge, as well as its highest 
degree of perfection, is received, we pass to the investiga- 
tion of that principle of intelligent intercommunication 
between mind and mind, by a mere act of the will, and the 
power to read the thoughts of others, independent of the 
exercise of the senses. Although this principle is higher 
than the one we have been considering, because depending 
upon laws of a more refined and exalted character, yet, in 
a certain important sense, it is subordinate to it, because 
its action is confined exclusively to those who have, or 
have had, the organs of sense, or some of them, unim- 
paired by physical derangement. For instance, an indi- 
vidual who had always been blind could never become a 
medium for communicating ideas respecting color ; and so, 
if they were thus deprived of any of the other senses, 
they would be unsusceptible of the medium spirit state 
to communicate intelligence as derived through such 
senses. 

Here is presented a fact which irrefutably exposes as 
false the supposition that they are intelligent spirits from 
ethereal spheres, which, through the medium, thus mani- 
fest themselves. If this were true, then why not make 
their knowledge, say of color, as exhibited in nature and 
art, known through blind mediums, which they cannot do ? 
The only apology the blind medium could offer for not 
revealing the colors and shades of a landscape or painting 
would be that the spirit which was speaking through him 
was also blind. As we have already seen that the active 
existence of physical laws was essential to the reception 
and development of the phenomena of intelligence, as ex- 



84 

hibited in the action of the senses, it also follows that the 
active presence of such laws are as essential to the inter- 
change of thought by a mere act of the will. As the re- 
ception of thought in both cases is physical, or the effect 
is such, it follows that the causes which produce it are also 
essentially physical, at least they cannot be so dissimilar 
in their nature as material and immateriality. For in- 
stance, as the effect or impression of any object on the 
mind is physical, from whatever source it has been com- 
municated, those received by the mediums are also of this 
nature, proved from the fact they can remember them 
afterward, as we shall see more particularly hereafter ; 
but, from these premises, it follows that either the spirits 
are corporeal and material creatures, or they are naturally 
disqualified to produce an intelligent impression on a mor- 
tal mind, as material or physical effects like these can only 
be dispatched from a physical being, and communicated 
through the medium of a physical agent. Disembodied 
spirits may, indeed, communicate between themselves, 
through spiritual and anti-physical laws, but of which we 
know nothing. If sentient beings were capable of com- 
municating intelligently with each other, without the aid 
of motions or sounds, as signs of ideas, would it not argue 
the superfluous endowment of man with organic faculties 
and substantial fluid principles as agencies of motion for 
such a purpose ; but that no such reflection attaches itself 
to the Creator is proved by the fact that mankind are thus 
endowed. He considered all the attributes of which man 
is possessed essential to constitute him what he is. 

" God's works display his wondrous skill, 
All nature's voice proclaim ; 
Their harmonies creation thrill, 
And magnify His name." 

In considering the manner of communicating intelligent 
impressions, and the various distances at which the respect- 



85 

ive mental agencies or mediums are susceptible of such 
communication, we propose to notice that of sound, sign or 
gesture, and will. The medium of conveying intelligent im- 
pressions by sound is atmospheric air ; this has been proved 
by such experiments as the following : A bell suspended in 
a vacuum cannot be made to convey its sound ; the concus- 
sions produced by its motions cannot be heard on the out- 
side of the vessel from which the air has been exhausted, 
and also that the intensity of the sound is in proportion to 
the perfection of the vacuum, diminishing as the air 
becomes exhausted, and proportionally increasing as the 
ingress of air fills the vacuity. The presence, therefore, 
of air, unobstructed by a vacuum, is essential to convey 
words articulated by one individual so that another may 
be able to hear them. The air, in speaking, is thrown into 
motion by a sudden effort of the lungs, and while passing 
through and from the mouth becomes formed, by the 
mechanical action of the organs of speech, into the precise 
image represented conventionally by a certain combina- 
tion of letters or words ; the air thus formed and moved 
by the lungs communicates an impulse to the external air 
with which the individual speaking is surrounded, and 
which throws this air into corresponding undulations or 
waves, compelling them to convey the picture of the 
object thus represented, until reaching the individual for 
whom it was intended; these undulations striking the 
drum of the ear, cause the auditory nerves to vibrate, and 
as these have their source in the convolutions of the 
brain, communicates to them also a corresponding motion, 
the result of which is an intelligent impression of that 
particular object upon the mind by the sounds or words 
representing it. It is proper in this connection to refer to 
the fact that the more gross the element, or any combina- 
tion of them, constituting a medium of mental intercom- 
munication, the greater amount of force is requisite to put 
them in motion, and according to their specific gravity 



86 

will be their inclination to cease that motion, — hence sound 
travels slow. 

Here we behold a beautiful adaptation existing between 
this physical medium and those organs brought in con- 
tact with, and moved by its power, while they are not 
those of the most delicately formed of the system, neither 
are they the grossest it possesses, this atmospheric medium 
receiving its first impulsive touch by the action of the 
lungs and its finishing one by that of the organs of speech. 
" Sound," says a French philosopher, " is represented by 
electricity," and suggests as proof the following experi- 
ment : Take a piece of glass and cover it with sand thinly 
sprinkled, then let it be moved by the vibration of a violin 
produced by drawing the bow across the strings, after 
which take a microscope and examine the forms into 
which the sand has been thrown simply by these vibra- 
tory sounds, and they will be found to be symmetrical, 
like the forms of snow-drops as they fall on a winter's 
day ; they will also be found to resemble the beautiful 
shapes of the kaleidoscope mysteries. 

Thus is sound, through the agency of electricity, subject 
to the mathematical laws of motion ; this result is to be at- 
tributed to the combination of the atmospheric and elec- 
trical mediums, the latter being excited and put in motion 
by the friction of drawing the bow across the strings of 
the instrument, and the former or atmosphere being moved 
by the vibratory action of the strings themselves. The 
second medium of mental intercommunication which we 
proposed to examine being that of sign or gesture, and as 
it is so similar to that of sound, differing only in the organ 
of reception — the eye instead of the ear — we pass to 
consider the third medium of this nature, namely, that 
principle of the mind requiring only an act of the will in 
order to convey an intelligent idea or image of an object 
to another mind. 

That this is, as we have already said, a superior phase 



87 

of mental communication, is evident from the fact that as 
it is necessary through any of the ordinary channels of 
sense, in order to convey an intelligent idea or impression 
from one mind to another, that certain words, as signs of 
ideas and objects, must be agreed upon by the parties thus 
communicating, in order to reach this result, but which is 
entirely superseded by that principle which we are con- 
sidering in accomplishing this object. For the mind to ac- 
complish this result it is necessary that whatever elements 
are moved by the will, whether as pure electricity or com- 
bined with the higher gases of the atmosphere (by this 
term we mean those of a more rarified texture), are 
thrown into the precise shape, embracing all the features, 
colors and shades of the object which is being conveyed 
from one mind to another, its identical image being pre- 
served perfectly through the whole volume of the inter- 
vening atmosphere existing between the minds thus in 
contact, so that were it possible to construct a metallic 
plate or any other substance of that precise chemical na- 
ture and surface of which the human brain is composed, 
and place it anywhere between the individuals thus com- 
municating, the precise image, with all its characteristics 
of feature and color, would be struck permanently on it, 
and as visible as a daguerreotype picture. 



88 
CHAPTER VIII. 

OUR OWN EXPERIMENTS. 

Although this principle of mental communication is 
accomplished without signs or muscular efforts, and is, 
therefore, of a superior character to all others known, it 
does not follow that its phenomena are not as absolutely 
under the government and control of natural laws, and 
that these are as really physical, as those which constitute 
the five animal senses. The fact alone that the impression 
of an object received on the brain is physical, and which 
can only be the result of a sentient mind originating and 
transmuting it through a physical agency, demonstrates 
the position that the whole operation is controlled by 
natural laws. But, in order to establish the fact that in- 
telligent impressions may be communicated by a mere act 
of the will, it is only necessary to refer again to those 
strange experiments of the mesmeric phenomena with 
which almost every one is familiar ; in doing this we pro- 
pose to introduce a few of these as examples, which are 
the result of our own investigations and tests to which we 
have submitted these wonderful agencies. A few years 
since, while we were engaged in delivering a course of 
lectures in the city of Bangor, Me., on the reciprocal 
influences of human minds on each other, the position was 
assumed that the image of an object was susceptible of 
being communicated from one mind to another by a mere 
act of the will, in order to vindicate which, the following 
experiment was tried in the presence of a large audience : 
We requested a young man of that city, about twenty 
years of age, who had but a short time previous been found 
to be susceptible of this impressibility, to subject himself 
to a few experiments for the purpose above mentioned, to 



89 

which he consented. He took his position at one end of a 
large platform, while I stood upon the other, about twenty 
feet distant. All that was requisite in order to prepare 
him for the experiment was simply to touch with my 
finger the polar organ, or, as it is technically called, that 
of firmness, which did not require more than five seconds. 
Every thing being now ready, I requested any gentleman 
in the room to come forward, or send by writing what ob- 
ject they wished thus communicated. After a short 
pause a gentleman came forward and handed me a slip of 
paper with the word " rabbit" written on it ; of course, as 
this was a familiar animal, it was only necessary to see the 
name in order to have the image of a rabbit produced 
upon my own mind. I then turned my whole attention, or 
so much of it as I was able to concentrate, on the mind of 
him to whom I wished to communicate the picture or 
image of a rabbit, at the same time making an effort of the 
will, so that he should see the animal itself ; a short pause 
then succeeded of about ten seconds, until it was evident 
from the fixed attention of this man to a certain point, 
that he saw something which somewhat astonished him. 
I inquired in an audible voice : " what do you see ? " to 
which he immediately responded in a loud and distinct 
voice : " a rabbit." The gentleman, at my request, rose 
and said that was the animal whose name he had written 
on the paper. 

Another similar request was then made, when a gentle- 
man came forward, and, in a low whisper, which it was 
impossible for any one but myself to hear, said, " make 
him see a lion." No sooner had the animal been suggested 
and my mind fixed as before, but without being conscious 
of making the least mental effort to communicate its image 
to the mind of the other, nevertheless he instantly fled in 
terror from the place where he stood, seized a chair and 
put himself in an attitude of defense.* As soon as I was 
able to inquire what he saw, he exclaimed, in a fearful 



90 

tone of voice, " a lion ! a lion ! " These experiments were 
continued until the audience, although skeptical at first of 
the correctness of the principle proposed to be thus estab- 
lished, were abundantly convinced that, under similar oir- 
cumstances, such results were of invariable uniformity. 

There are but two conceivable principles upon which to 
account for these results : the one of which is that my own 
spirit vacated my physical frame and actually passed into 
the mental realm of the individual who received these 
intelligent impressions, and there, with its ethereal fingers, 
sketched these animals in all their natural delineation ; the 
other is that for which we contend, namely, that a sub- 
stantial agent, unorganized, according to the laws of animal 
life, and senseless of itself, was dispatched from my mind 
by a decision of the will, and thus communicated the 
images of a rabbit, lion, etc., to the mind of him who re- 
ceived them as such. In answer to the first of these sup- 
positions we have two objections to offer, both of which 
are founded on the commonly received opinions of the 
nature of the human spirit. 

The first is that the spirit is the intelligent and knowing 
principle of human kind ; the spirit, therefore, being thus 
essential to the existence of thought, reason and intelli- 
gence, it follows of necessity that were it to vacate its 
seat, wherever that may be in a human being, that that 
being must immediately cease to be conscious, and must 
thus remain until its return to its natural residence ; and if 
my spirit, on the occasion of the performance of these ex- 
periments, did leave its residence to communicate these 
sever al impressions, I must of course have been left in a 
state of perfect unconsciousness ; but as this was not the 
fact, I not being in the slightest degree aware of its de- 
parture, therefore the theory is false. The other objection 
we suggest to this theory is that the spirit is the animating 
principle or the vitalizing power of human nature ; admit- 
ting this to be true, it follows as a necessary consequence 



f 



91 

that were the spirit voluntarily to vacate the animal or- 
ganism, or be compelled to do so for any imaginable pur- 
pose, it would instantaneously cease its motions — the lungs 
to breathe, the heart to beat, the stomach to digest its food, 
the blood to circulate, and the various secreting and ex- 
creting organs to perform their respective functions — in a 
word, death would immediately ensue. To take the short 
way to refute this erroneous supposition we suggest the 
fact that, as this calamity was not the result of communi- 
cating the above impressions, therefore the theory is as 
false as it is absurd. Such experiments, as every one 
knows who is acquainted with the phenomena of mes- 
merism, are its common manifestations. 

As a test of this power to read the mind of another, the 
following experiment was also produced upon the same 
individual. On one occasion two men came hastily into 
our rooms at a public house in Old Town, Me., and stated 
that they had made a wager with each other to a certain 
effect, which, of course, was a secret with themselves, and 
the revelation of which would furnish an opportunity of 
testing the ability to thus read the mind. We all stood 
together on the floor, and Mr. Frost, for that was the 
name of the individual who could thus read, requested the 
two men to join hands, which they accordingly did, he 
himself taking one of them by the hand. A moment's 
pause ensued, when, addressing the individual third from 
himself, said, " You bet him (the one he held by the hand) 
that you could touch me while in the magnetic state and I 
not feel it," and then added, " I did not read it from your 
mind, but from yours " (the third one from himself), the 
one whose mind was on the subject, the matter of dispute, 
while the mind of the other was at that moment occupied 
with other subjects. These men immediately acknowl- 
edged that he had decided correctly. The reason why a 
touch was made the subject of wager was the fact that if 
any individual touched him, either inadvertently or by 



92 

design, while in this condition, no matter how slightly, it 
would communicate as powerful a shock as though receiv- 
ing a full charge from a galvanic battery. 

One of these individuals, being skeptical in regard to 
this fact, wished to test its truthfulness, supposing he could 
touch him so slightly that no shock would be the result, 
but which was found to be as impossible as to join the cir- 
cle of a galvanic battery in operation and not receive a 
shock. A remarkable instance of this mind-reading was 
that of a Parisian, who had been so often magnetized by a 
brother-in-law that the latter would take a newspaper 
fresh from the press and read it mentally, that is, without 
the use of the organs of speech, and the impressible sub- 
ject, although occupying another room in the house, with 
closed doors between them, would read audibly the same 
words in as quick succession as they were seen by the eye 
of him who held the paper in his hands. This Mr. Frost 
would also, by taking any individual by the hand, read and 
describe every peculiarity of their disposition with much 
greater accurateness and philosophical nicety of descrip- 
tion and delineation, although unacquainted with the 
science of phrenology, than any practical phrenologist is 
capable of doing. 

There is one point relating to this mental intercommuni- 
cation upon which it is necessary to be a little more ex- 
plicit, which is, that the intelligence passing from one mind 
to another is the result of mind reading exclusively. De- 
nominating the two individuals who are qualified to hold 
such communication the positive and the negative, for con- 
venience, and indeed such is the fact in regard to them, aa 
we have shown elsewhere, we remark that all the positive 
mind can do is to send, by an act of his will, an electric 
shock to the negative mind. This simply arrests the mind 
of the latter, just as the call of a telegraph operator is 
sent along the wires to prepare the way for his message 
and which thus arrests the attention of the negative and 



93 

fixes it on the positive, who has sent it. No sooner is this 
done than the electric agency of the latter, following back 
the course of the dispatch received, enters the mind of the 
former and there sees and reads from his impressed brain 
the information which the positive desired to communicate, 
and of course is able to write or tell it to those around 
him. 

If this be true, it will readily be perceived that here is 
discovered another mode of telegraphic communication, 
and how far it will come into practical use remains to be 
Been ; but, from what we have accomplished by experi- 
menting in this direction, we have no doubt but that such 
communications may be positively relied on. The distance 
to which such dispatches may be sent and received is yet 
to be demonstrated, and the interrupting influences dis- 
covered and overcome, and which would have been ac- 
complished long since (for we have known it for the 
space of twenty-five years) had not the ignorance and su- 
perstition of the age attributed these phenomena to the 
foolish and inadequate intervention of the spirits of the 
dead ; and, by thus degrading it, scientific and philosophic 
investigation has been prevented. 

I have myself, by the aid of a good negative, prosecuted 
this mental telegraphing until it was found to be correct, 
uniform, and therefore reliable. It is true I never have 
tried to see how far these dispatches could be thus com- 
municated ; but as this is the true theory, instead of that of 
spirits, it shuts us up to the conclusion that to as great a dis- 
tance as any of these supposed spirit communications have 
been received, and which is thousands of miles, to so great 
a distance is this electric mental telegraphing practical, 
this being the philosophical principle upon which such 
intercommunication is prosecuted, and all between living 
minds, or, what we mean is, living men in a mental state 
acting through natural laws and endowments. Now, if 
this great discovery is the result of the supposed spirit 



94 

phenomena, the world can well have afforded to wade, as it 
has done, through the superstitious credulit7 and marvel- 
ous pretensions of spiritualism. 

It may not be out of place here simply to state the fact 
that I can take individuals who are of this magnetic, 
impressible nature, and place one of them in one end of any 
hall in the city and send any dispatch which I am desired 
to, while I occupy the other end, and that, too, in a 
moment of time he will report it to those around him as 
correctly as though it had been sent to him by a regular 
telegraph ; and all that is necessary for me to do, in order 
to prepare him to receive such dispatch, is to touch certain 
nerves, which requires but a moment, and after taking our 
respective positions a hundred feet distant, simply to read 
the dispatch mentally, when he will read it audibly to 
those around him. It is, however, absolutely necessary 
that I should cast my eyes upon it, or have it distinctly on 
my mind, or the negative individual can in no case receive 
it. 

This may be carried on during the whole evening with- 
out the least injury to the negative individual. Of course, 
as in telegraphy, the stronger the battery the greater dis- 
tance the dispatch can be sent, other things being equal ; so 
in this mental telegraphing, the more perfect the positive 
and negative are to each other, other things being equal, 
the greater distance the animal magnetic dispatch can be 
sent. 

To perfect this method of telegraphy it requires four 
persons, a negative and positive at each extremity of the 
distance between which it is proposed to communicate. In 
order to illustrate this operation, we will station two of 
these at Albany and the other two at New York. The 
positive at Albany receives a business dispatch which is 
to be sent to New York, which he reads and then fixes his 
attention and will on the New York negative, with no idea, 
however, of sending the dispatch to him directly, which 



95 

he cannot do, but simply to so arrest his attention that he 
will think of him (the positive), which this electric shock 
will do, and now as quick as this thought from the nega- 
tive to the positive travels, will the mental magnetic com- 
munication be established between the two, and that, too, 
according to the well-known law of electrics, that the 
negative and positive come together and neutralize each 
other, and now the dispatch is being read from the brain 
of the positive by the negative, who repeats it to his 
associate in New York. 

This positive now writes down the answer, or has it 
distinctly in his mind, for this is all that is necessary, and 
sends it in like manner to his negative in Albany, and so 
the transaction is accomplished. 

We are aware that this may seem incredible ; but does 
it any more so than our ordinary telegraph did when we 
first heard it announced. Indeed, there is not an objection 
which can be brought against it which cannot be physio- 
logically and philosophically answered — we mean, taking 
the higher range of physiology, comprehending its elec- 
tric forces and physical laws of impression, which will 
one day find their way into the books. We repeat that 
these can be answered, even if this system of telegraphy 
was all theory ; but this is not the fact, for we have our- 
selves, more than twenty-five years ago, by the aid of these 
negatives, done this very thing to limited distances, but 
as far as they were tried to be sent, and were successful 
too ; that was not done in a corner and in the dark, but 
before large audiences, and of course who took a lively 
interest in the exhibition. 

We were, however, perfectly unconscious of the magni- 
tude, utility and practicability of this discovery at that 
time, and was only thus engaged to exhibit the fact that 
the spirits of the dead had nothing to do in producing 
these phenomena. We are aware that an objection to this 
system of telegraphy may be raised to the effect that it is 



96 

necessary that the positive and negative must come in 
direct contact with each other, in order to obtain the ner- 
vous communication before thus taking their stations re- 
spectfully at Albany and New York. In answer to this 
objection we will simply say here (and in confirmation of 
which we could give scores of facts), that an hour may be 
understood by the parties of each day when these nega- 
tives should go into this impressible state by the will of 
their positive associates at any other place or distance, 
and it would be accomplished ; of course the nerve-force 
is sent by the positive to the negative, as we have already 
explained, in order to effect this, and indeed, after re- 
peated experiments made through this magnetic power 
between any negative and positive, it requires but an 
effort of the will by the positive to throw the negative 
into this impressible state. 

And this is all our space will permit us to say upon this 
part of the subject. Indeed, to write out all we know of 
this one feature of this human, physical, magnetic tele- 
graphy, would require a large volume of itself, and we 
therefore proceed to the general subject, and which will 
furnish additional proof and illustration of this feature and 
operation of it. 

In order that we may be better prepared to appre- 
ciate the philosophy of this phase of mental inter- 
communication, we propose to introduce some addi- 
tional arguments in vindication of the position that, with 
whatever object the mind comes in contact so as to occupy 
its attention, there is produced on its physical tablets 
a perfect and permanent image of itself. In doing this, 
we propose to consider in the first place an argument in- 
volved in that attribute of the mind called memory. We 
are not to suppose that this faculty of the mind occupies 
a particular location as a mental organ, such as that of 
comparison, individuality, etc., but, on the contrary, mem 
ory is found to be allied with each and every distinct 



97 

faculty of the mental powers, so that when any of them 
becomes excited to action the result is the production of a 
permanent impression thereon. 

If, in connection with this idea, we take into considera- 
tion the fact that the organs of the mind vary in size and 
activity in different individuals, and also that the intensity 
of their impressions (other things being equal) depends 
upon and corresponds with this variety of development, 
we are furnished with a philosophical solution of the fact 
that the power of memory, in the same direction, varies 
essentially among men. For instance, one individual may 
be in possession of a remarkably good memory in relation 
to all passing circumstances and events in any way con- 
nected with momentary speculations, while those organs in 
the mind of the same individual, which give the incentive 
to divine worship, by long neglect are so depressed and 
inactive, that scarcely an impulse is ever felt in this direc- 
tion, and when it is, it is so very feeble that it is easily 
forgotten. Such individuals are often heard to complain 
of a bad memory, when religious topics are being dis- 
cussed ; but projects concerning money, having become 
his study by day and the theme of his dreams in the night, 
are never thus forgotten, but are memorized, to the exclu- 
sion of all other subjects within the realm of his intellect. 

The fact is, we remember those things which most inter- 
est us because these make the most powerful impression 
on our minds. But, as it regards the scientific principle of 
memory, we can conceive of no other upon which its exist- 
ence is susceptible of being established, only that which 
claims that real physical impressions are produced upon 
the human brain, corresponding with all the features of 
all the objects which the mind has ever contemplated. 
Indeed, we regard this as the fundamental principle of 
human memory. We are aware that an objection may 
here be raised, to the effect that the multiplicity of im- 
pressions which an individual receives during a long life 

7 



98 

•would mar, confuse and disfigure each other so as to effect- 
ually destroy their identity. In answer to this we remark, 
the objector should be reminded of the fact that one of 
the most distinguished features of the mind is, the more 
its faculties are taxed and exercised, the more in proportion 
are they developed and the sphere of their capability en- 
larged, so that, unlike other created things, labor renders 
it powerful instead of enervating its energies, and which 
law would continue to operate, in this progressive ratio, 
on the mental powers of the most aged sons of earth were 
it not for the decline and failure of the physical vitality 
of the human system, whose vigorous action is necessary, 
in order to sustain a strong and highly developed intel- 
lect. 

This objection would hold good against any material 
surface prepared by the ingenuity of man for the reception 
of the pictures of objects ; the last one received would 
necessarily disfigure and destroy the identity of that which 
preceded it ; but are we to infer from this that the great 
architect of creation is incapable of constructing a surface 
not thus defective, and in connection with what other 
department of his work would we be so likely to find its 
existence as that of the human brain ? On this 3ublime 
arrangement, therefore, we conclude that beautiful tran- 
scriptions of all objects and descriptions of objects with 
which the mind has ever been occupied, stand pictured 
without confusion or irregularity. This objection appears 
still more unfounded and absurd when it is considered that 
man alone of all the works of Deity was created in His 
own image and after His likeness, and as an intelligent 
being, although in ruins, still bears some of the character- 
istic marks of his great original. That this is the true idea 
of memory is also argued from the philosophy of the asso 
ciation of thought. 

Let it be supposed that no such physical impressions are 
thus produced upon the brain, as the plastic tablets of the 



mind, and how would it be possible for it to recall past 
events and images of objects, together with the various 
scenes of nature and human occurrences through which 
individuals pass, and which have become familiarly asso- 
ciated with individual history? For instance, a person 
comes in contact with an object, some of whose features 
are perceived to bear a striking resemblance to those of 
some other object which has been seen at a former period. 
What other reason conceivable can be assigned for the 
possession of this qualification only that the mind com- 
pares the characteristics of the object now being witnessed 
with those of the image of the former object, which stands 
indelibly pictured on the brain, and hence the features of 
similarity between the two are recognized. 

The only objection which has a show of argument 
against this principle is, that the respective images of 
objects, embracing, of course, all those which have now 
passed from before the organs of vision and beyond the 
reach of the other senses are, nevertheless, retained, or 
held in the thinking powers of the mind. That this objec- 
tion is without force is evident from the fact that the 
thinking powers are not always in active operation, which 
would be necessary on the above supposition. 

This is the case with the operation of the mind in a state 
of sound sleep, in which the intellect is not only partially 
but entirely dormant and inactive, and consequently every 
object is dismissed from the realm of thought, and is 
therefore perfectly incapable, not only of thus retaining 
the images of all passed objects which have occupied the 
attention, but equally is it so in relation to a single one 
through this intellectual cessation. And how weak does 
this objection appear when we remember that the thinking 
powers can only be conceived, in their relation to the ac- 
quisition of knowledge, as tools in the hand of the 
mechanic or artist, by the use of which human skill is 
manifested. Hence we perceive the indispensable necessity 



100 

for permanent impressions to be made on the physical 
organs of the mind; but this objection is also irrecon- 
cilable with that law of the mind which renders it capable 
of being only occupied with a single object at once, and in 
conformity with which the five senses are constructed, 
each of which are endowed with powers only of communi- 
cating the image of a single object to the empire of reason 
at once. 

It is true that almost any number of the images of 
objects with which the eye, for instance, comes in contact 
may be struck upon the retina at once ; but it is also true 
that the mind can absolutely see but a single one of such 
images at once, neither does it matter whether these 
objects are placed in close proximity or more remote, or 
whether they are similar or dissimilar. And this peculiar- 
ity is also true of all the other organic senses, each of 
which is capable of conveying but a single image of an 
object to the realm of reason at once, although they are 
all distinct and act independently of each other, and not 
only so, but the mind itself is so perfectly individualized 
that if its powers are engaged in the investigation of an 
object whose image has been received through the organ 
of sight, it cannot taste or smell, and is also deaf and 
dumb to all other objects unless they are of more startling 
importance than that which is being revolved in the mind, 
and even then an independent effort is made to dismiss it, 
or suspend action upon its character without being dis- 
posed of, before anv thing else can command its attention. 



101 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE RECEPTION OF THOUGHT ILLUSTRATED. 

We therefore perceive the futility of the position, that 
the thinking faculties of the mind hold all the images of 
the objects with which it has ever been interested, which, 
if true, would demand continual mental exercise, but with 
which state natural sleep would be incompatible. From 
these facts and philosophical principles which they involve, 
is not the position demonstrated that the whole history of 
an individual, embracing all the variety of subjects which 
has ever occupied his attention, is traced on the men- 
tal organism, in intelligible, tangible and unconfused 
imagery, whose indelibility runs commensurate with 
mortal and immortal existence ; not an image, even the 
most unimportant event, is ever forgotten, bat is suscep- 
tible of being called into vivid recollection by the trans- 
piration of some similar circumstance, or the witnessing of 
an object possessed of similar features of identity. Here 
are we furnished with the true philosophy of human 
memory and also with a key to the solution of the principle 
upon which the mind of one person is read by another, and 
the qualification thus acquired to make revelations of 
what they contain, perfectly independent of supernatural 
agencies. The entire philosophy of this mysterious inter- 
course we do not pretend to understand, but, nevertheless, 
we can but presume that the arguments here presented are 
of sufficient force to establish the position that intelligent 
impressions are susceptible of being communicated from 
one mind to another by a mere effort of the will, and the 
ability to thus read the mind acting upon natural prin- 
ciples, and also that under certain circumstances, inde- 
pendent of the ordinary senses, one mind is capable of 



102 

reading the imaged impressions of another. We are aware 
that as some of these principles involve metaphysical 
nicety in their elucidation, they are therefore susceptible 
of objection, which they would not otherwise be, simply 
from the degree of mental application demanded in order 
to perceive their force and applicability to the subject of 
discussion, but not because of their incorrectness. 

It is, perhaps, to this fact that in no small degree the 
fate of new discoveries are to be attributed. It is a dark 
reflection upon the intelligence of mankind, which no 
redemption can efface, that the whole history of scientific 
and religious research and discovery presents but one fea- 
ture in this regard, the popular mind has always waged 
an uncompromising warfare against the promulgation of 
newly discovered truths, whether of science or revelation. 
It would, indeed, seem that the present boasting age of 
progress would have at least so far profited by such an an- 
cestral example that, when any new truth, or that which 
purports so to be, is brought forward, claiming impartial 
investigation, that the demand would not only be consid- 
ered respectful but important ; but how far otherwise are 
the facts in the case as illustrated by the phenomena of 
spiritualism. We behold those who should investigate 
them arrayed as mighty antagonists against each other ; on 
the one side those marvelous manifestations are either 
denied or ignored, notwithstanding the unquestionable evi- 
dence upon which they are based, while on the other is 
assumed the equally absurd position of attributing their 
existence to the agency of supernatural spirits. But not- 
withstanding this, it is consoling to contemplate the fact, 
that there are others at least as capable of this investiga- 
tion, who assume neither of these extremes, and who have 
become so far disenthralled from the antiquated notion 
that impartial investigation is dangerous to the progress of 
truth, that they have the moral courage, regardless of con- 
sequences, to investigate any subject whatever; before 



103 

such minds thus engaged mystery and error become trans- 
parent, which is fatal to their existence, while the great 
temple of truth rears its proud proportions, radiant with 
its native majesty and illustrious splendor, shedding its 
benignant beams on the mental and moral progress of the 
world. 

In whatever department of the works of Deity we rumi- 
nate in our contemplations, nowhere do we discover such a 
display of his infinite wisdom and power, involving prin- 
ciples so much akin to himself, as those which are found 
interwoven in the creation of the human mind ; between 
all other works of nature are found approximate traces of 
similarity, sufficiently obvious and analogous to enable us 
to reason from cause to effect, but within this realm it 
almost ceases its application. 

But as something of scientific discovery and artistic in- 
vention will enable us to more fully illustrate the princi- 
ple of communicating intelligent impressions, by a mere 
act of the will, independent of muscular effort or the or- 
gans of speech, we propose to introduce for this purpose 
that almost superhuman achievement, combining art and 
science, the daguerreotyping of pictures, the result of 
which, as we shall see in the various points of parallel be- 
tween the philosophy of this art and those embraced in 
the human mind, acting upon mind producing pictures on 
each other for future reference, is strikingly illustrated. 

We have denominated that agency of the mind by which 
the will is capable of transferring pictures or impressions 
from itself to other minds electrical, simply because of its 
sublimation, being endowed to such a degree with this 
characteristic, that all other surfaces of matter or substan- 
tial bodies are rendered transparent in their relations to it, 
because susceptible of its penetration, nothing in nature 
having been discovered impervious to its approach, or pos- 
sessed of those chemical properties necessary to its suc- 
cessful resistance. It is this feature which gives it its 



104 

peculiar adaptation as the mind's agent — the cranium — 
with all its membranous surfaces offering no resistance 
either to the reception or ejectment, not even an atmos- 
pheric vacuum, possessing the least power to impede its 
progress. 

The important fact which we wish more particularly to 
illustrate by the philosophy of this art is not so much that 
the mind is capable of receiving permanent impressions 
by the intermediate connection of this agency, through 
the ordinary channels of sensibility, but that after their 
reception it is qualified to transmit them independent of 
any such arrangement, they being read by other minds 
from its material brain-plates. 

Daguerre, the discoverer and inventor of this sublime 
art, and after whose name it is designated, seems to have 
taken the mechanism of the human eye as the pattern 
from which to construct his machine. There is in this ar- 
rangement what is called the camera obscura, into which 
is placed a sheet of co}">per, plated with silver, and well 
cleaned and polished with diluted nitric acid, after which 
it is exposed to the vapor of iodine, which process forms a 
very thin coating on its surface, and after remaining there 
a short period of time it is taken out and again exposed 
to the vapor of mercury, and then heated to a certain de- 
gree, when it is found to contain the likeness of the object 
which had been placed before the machine. 

There is also, in the formation of this machine, the con- 
vex lens, which, like the retina of the eye, looks at the 
object placed before it. On this lens the image is struck, 
and from which it is conveyed into the camera obscura, 
where the plate, as already described, is placed for its 
reception, and on which it is permanently struck, feature 
answering feature, as in perfect similitude. And so it is 
with the human eye. Its convex lens receives the image 
of the object placed before it, and if the mind is not so 
much engaged at the time with other matters, it becomes 



105 

suddenly aroused by the visit of this new image thus 
brought into its dark chambers, and, after having delinea 
ted all its features, receives its perfect image permanently 
imprinted or daguerreotyped on its living and plastic tab- 
lets, which is ever afterward retained, and is susceptible 
of being called into vivid remembrance by any similar cir- 
cumstance or coincidence, or by the discovery of any other 
object possessing similar features of identity. It is readily 
admitted that impressions produced upon any surface chem- 
ically prepared by the artist may fade and even become 
so far marred and obliterated by the lapse of time, that no 
feature of the original may remain by which to identify it. 
But it is not to be inferred from this that impressions pro- 
duced upon the human brain will thus fade, for when it is 
considered that, while man is the originator and constructor 
of this enchanting machine, that the originator and maker 
of the human brain, with all its arrangement of functions, 
claims the Deity as its architect, and hence its distinguish- 
ing superiority. 

Another of these features of correspondence between 
this human machine and the mind is that the eye is only 
capable of receiving and conveying to the seat of intelli- 
gence those images placed before it in the presence of light, 
emanating either from the sun or some other luminous 
body, or from one that is dark in itself, if it is endowed 
with power of emitting particles of its own substance with 
a sufficient degree of force that their velocity would set 
on fire the inflammable gases of the atmosphere through 
which they passed, which is more than probable is the 
philosophy of the production of the sun's light. The pres- 
ence of light, however, with all its constituents of hydro- 
gen, oxygen and electricity, is indispensable to the phe- 
nomena of human vision. This is also true in regard to 
the successful accomplishment of the above art ; no da- 
guerreotypes can therefore be taken in the dark. The 
presence of those elements requisite to create the light of 



106 



day are, if any thing, more indispensable to the successful 
performance of this art, than to render the mind suscepti- 
ble of the reception of impressions through the organs of 
vision, inasmuch as artificial light is sufficient for the ac- 
complishment of the latter, while the light of the sun 
alone is requisite for that of the daguerrean's art. This 
fact, however, does not affect the principle upon which the 
artist's machine and the eye acts in the production of these 
common results, but simply proves the superiority of the 
human eye, with its connection of nerves and brain, to the 
instrument of the artist. 

Another fact which exhibits this comparative superiority 
is one to which we have already referred, namely, that 
while the artist's machine, together with the plates pre- 
pared for the reception of a picture, is capable of receiving 
but a single one on its surface, the plates of the mind (if 
we may so speak) never become blurred or confused by any 
number of impressions which may be produced on them ; 
but, on the contrary, their increased number only serves to 
enlarge its sphere of action, and which in the same degree 
develops its capacity for the reception and retention of 
the future imagery of thought. Upon its God-like leaves 
may be piled image upon image, scene upon scene, picture 
upon picture, until the vast earth, with all its variety and 
infinity of objects, embracing their peculiarities of form, 
color and shade, becomes quite absorbed, and yet the re 
ceivability of but an individual mind remains compara- 
tively empty, and is infinitely further from being satiated 
than when it received its first impression. As we have 
assumed electricity to be the agent of the mind, through 
whose medium it conveys duplicate impressions of those 
images, previously produced upon itself, and that even as 
to color and shade, it follows that this substance is pos- 
sessed of the properties called coloring matter, of all the 
pristine colors that variegate the landscape and beautify 
the face of Nature. 



' 



107 

In order to demonstrate this character of electricity, we 
tried the following experiment : We procured two round 
plates of common glass, each about an eighth of an inch 
in thickness and three inches in diameter, the surfaces of 
which were flat and smooth. We then rubbed them to- 
gether until there was a sufficient quantity of electricity 
excited so as to cause them firmly to adhere to each other, 
and immediately there appeared, as by magic, all the 
pristine colors, perfectly resembling those of the rainbow 
in the clouds. We have often repeated the experiment, 
and found it to be of unexceptionable uniformity, the col- 
ors appearing perfect as long as the plates were left 
adhering to each other, which they would always have 
done, because exhibiting the phenomenon of a perfect 
magnet ; but when they were forcibly separated, the colors 
immediately disappeared, proving conclusively that it was 
the electric fluid thus excited and retained by the non- 
conductorial power of the glass plates which contained the 
coloring matter, and which this simple operation developed 
into the colors themselves. Another fact in regard to this 
experiment is, that the greater amount of electricity excited 
by a corresponding degree of friction, manifesting its pres- 
ence by the comparative firmness with which the plates 
adhered to each other, the deeper in proportion were the 
colors thus produced. This experiment may suggest the 
principle which will enable the artist, eventually, to take 
his pictures with all their variety of tint, color and shade ; 
however this may be, it illustrates the capability of the 
substantial agent of the human mind to communicate, not 
only the precise imagery of its own impressions to other 
minds, but to color them in their perfect similitude. 

Another important principle exhibited between this art 
and the transmission of intelligent impressions is, that all 
the elements which enter into the composition of light, 
and which intervene between the machine of the artist 
and the object to be daguerreotyped, are thrown into mo- 



108 

tion and formed into lines, circles and angles, simply by 
the relative position of it and the machine before which it 
is placed; it is also immaterial whether the object is ani- 
mate or inanimate, and notwithstanding also that there 
are no moving, mechanical devices in the construction of 
the machine adapted to convey force to these intervening 
elements, compelling them to convey the impression of the 
object whose likeness is to be taken, nevertheless, this is 
as really the result of the operation as though they all ex- 
isted and were thus controlled by the ingenuity of mechan- 
ical skill, because it would be impossible to produce 
such a result unless all the intervening elements were 
thus thrown into motion. Were this not the case, not an 
evanescent impression of any object whatever could be 
produced, or one that would not vanish like the mirrored 
form when the object before it is removed, or when an 
opaque body was placed between them. In this operation 
we observe the existence of the three-fold law before dis- 
cussed as an indispensable prerequisite to the production 
of physical impressions, a moving cause, consisting of a 
mechanical machine, an agency or medium consisting of 
atmospheric air with its constituents of inflammable gases 
and electricity, and in the third place the effect consisting 
of an image permanently struck on the surface of a metal- 
lic plate chemically prepared for its reception. In this 
wonderful display of art we are furnished with an ap- 
proximate solution of the principle of this strange mental 
intercommunication. Here we have simply a machine and 
an object placed in a certain relative position to itself and 
upon the condition that the operation shall be performed 
in the light of day. These taken together constitute the 
natural law, controlled by artistic skill and scientific 
knowledge, exhibiting this sublime result, all these inter- 
vening elements electrically and chemically adapted to 
produce it, being thus compelled to move from the object 
to the lens in the machine, and from thence again conveyed 



109 

into the camera obscura in the precise lines, circles and 
angles corresponding with the identical features of the 
object whose imagery is thus transferred. 

This achievement of art, we repeat, furnishes an illus- 
tration which may be comprehended, and hence appreciated 
even by ordinary minds, and which must forever settle the 
question as it regards the philosophical principle upon 
which the mind acts in communicating tangible and intel- 
ligent impressions by a mere effort of the will independent, 
and therefore of a superior character to that upon which 
it ordinarily acts in the accomplishment of its purposes, 
and we cannot conceive how any individual, properly 
weighing its force and applicability to the spirit theory, 
can avoid becoming fully convinced that there are no such 
beings or things as spirits in any way connected with these 
phenomena. 



110 



CHAPTER X. 

A HEALTHY BKAIN ESSENTIAL TO HUMAN INTELLIGENCE. 

It is not only true, as we have before intimated, that the 
mind in its lowest department of physiological organism is 
endowed with all the principles embraced in the Daguer- 
rean machine, in their exact order of arrangement, but it is 
also endowed with additional attributes and appliances, 
rendering it still more capable of receiving and transmit- 
ting the images of the objects with which it is brought in 
contact. To illustrate this superiority of the mental struc- 
ture, it must be remembered that the lens of the eye is 
connected by the optic nerve from the retina to the brain, 
forming a direct and unbroken channel of communication 
between external scenes and the seat of reason and realm 
of vision where all objects are seen, whose physical plates, 
all prepared and polished by the skillful hand of the 
Divine Architect, all images are traced, whereas no such 
conducting medium exists between the lenses of the 
artist's machine and the camera obscura where the images 
of objects are formed, the intervening atmosphere alone 
being compelled to subserve this purpose. 

Another fact exhibiting this comparative superiority of 
organic arrangement is, that while it requires a number of 
seconds for the artist to procure his pictures, the mind acts 
instantaneously in their reception and transmission, its 
wonderful agent as it regards time and space, most strik- 
ingly corresponding to the velocity of thought — on its 
electric or lightning wings are borne intelligent communica- 
tion hundreds of leagues in a computeless period of time, 
in fact far out-stripping the speed of the revolving earth, 
and hence its measurement of time ; but in addition to 
this it must be remembered that while there is no moving 



Ill 

apparatus in the arrangement of the artist's machine, and 
which necessarily disqualifies it to convey its pictures to 
any considerable distance, the organs of the mind, consist- 
ing of convolutions of brain, possess an inherent power of 
motion, and when by the excitement of some intense 
thought or occurrence sends out its impressions with noth- 
ing less than telegraphic speed. 

To demonstrate the existence of the motion of the organs 
of the brain in their intellectual exercise, we might pre- 
sent a multitude of facts, if it was a point upon which 
existed much doubt, but the following example will suf- 
fice for this purpose. It was in Paris where it occurred : 
A man received a fracture of the skull, occasioned by a 
fall. The effect upon his mind was that of perfect insan- 
ity, as the fracture had not been properly examined when 
it was produced. Some months afterward it underwent a 
second examination, when it was found that a piece of the 
skull had been driven down into the substance of the brain, 
there acting as a wedge to prevent its delicate movements. 
At the time of this calamity the individual was engaged in 
conversation with a friend, and it was remarked that when 
the surgeon removed the piece of skull from the brain he 
immediately resumed the subject of his discourse and fin- 
ished the precise sentence which had been cut short by the 
accident. It is evident from such facts as these, and they 
are numerous, that the motion of the convolutions of the 
brain or the mental organism is indispensable to the pro- 
duction of human thought and intellectual exercise. This 
function of the organic department of the mind, we re- 
peat, furnishes another feature of its superiority to the 
mechanism involved in the construction of the machine 
under consideration. This phenomenon may also be tested 
by our senses. For instance, let any two individuals try 
the following experiment, and all doubt as to the actual 
motion of the cerebellum, conveying the vital force to the 
organs of life, will be removed. Let them each place one 



112 

hand firmly against one of their own ears, so as to shut off 
the atmosphere from the drum, and then let them put the 
uncovered ear as close against each other as possible, and 
they will hear the vibratory oscillation of each other's 
brain, and it will be perceived that there will be a striking 
resemblance between these vibrations in carrying on the 
operations of life, and those produced by the action of the 
galvanic battery. 

The legitimate inference from this is that if the motion 
of the convolutions of the cerebellum are necessary to the 
existence and continuation of vitality, that also of the 
cerebrum, comprehending the intellectual organs, is as 
necessary to the performance of thought and human 
rationality. But there is one more analogical principle 
existing between this art and one of the most singular 
manifestations of spiritualism, which so evidently comes 
within the laws of science that it seems to us that, in the 
absence of all other arguments, it would prove these phe- 
nomena to be simply the results of the physical depart- 
ment of the minds of men while here in a mortal state . 
The phenomena to which we refer is that many of the 
communications by the writing mediums are inverted or 
back-handed. It is a well-settled principle in the science 
of optics that all objects are inverted before they are struck 
upon that part of the organs of vision where they are seen 
by the mind ; this is owing to the two extreme rays of 
light reflected from the extreme points of the object looked 
at, which cross each other at the optic angle in the center 
of the pupil of the eye, which is effected by the different 
forms and textures of the humors of the eye ; thus the 
rays begin to converge in the aqueous humor, are per- 
fected and brought fo a point in the crystalline humor ; 
but when they strike upon the vitreous humor, which is 
of a concave surface in front, they diverge or spread out, 
and hence on the back part of the eye the object is perfectly 
pictured, but in a reversed position. 



113 

The front surface of the aqueous humor being of a 
convex form, contracts the rays of light reflected from an 
object, and the same surface of the next humor, the crys- 
talline, also, being that of a convex form, continues this 
contraction to a point. To illustrate : suppose a plume one 
foot in length were placed before the eye of an individual, 
and, as the rays of light pass equally from every part of 
that side of it toward the eye, those which proceed from 
the extreme points are contracted by the aqueous humor 
to the length of one-half inch, and, again striking the con- 
vex surface of the crystalline humor, are contracted to a 
point ; and, as this humor is of an oval form, and as the 
point of convergence is at the center of this humor, the 
next surface which these rays of light meet is of a concave 
form, being the anterior half of the crystalline humor, pass- 
ing through which they next come in contact with the 
vitreous, which is also of a concave form, and hence con- 
tinues the expansion of the rays received from the plume ; 
those, however, which proceeded from the top of the plume 
have conveyed that part of its picture to the bottom part 
of the eye, where the mind sees it, and those which ema- 
nated from the lower part in a reversed order ; that is, to 
the upper part of the seat of vision ; hence, according to 
these laws of vision, the mind actually has painted on its 
beautiful tablets an inverted panorama of all the objects 
with which it has come in contact. Here an objection arises 
to the effect that if it is the mind that sees, and all objects 
are thus inverted to its eye, why are they not seen upside 
down. Without stopping to present the various theories 
of Locke, Buffon, Berkeley and others of like philosophic 
skill as opticians, suffice it to say that for the mind to see 
an object it must be remembered that the rays of light 
which we have described invert the object by their differ- 
ent humors while conveying its image into the realm of 
vision. 



8 



114 



They also reverse this order as the mind follows the 
same rays of light back again to the object itself, which is 
therefore seen in its true position, hence the objection 
weighs nothing against the inversion of the images of ob- 
jects struck upon the physical organs of the mind prepared 
by Divine skill for their reception. Now, with this philos- 
ophy before us, we are prepared to understand and also to 
appreciate the spiritual phenomenon of the medium's 
writing being inverted. For instance, here is a medium 
whose familiar spirit has enabled her to glide on its elec- 
tric wings into the picture gallery of another mind, and she 
there sees all the images and descriptions of objects traced 
with which it has ever been acquainted, but in an inverted 
order of nature. There is seen, among other things, the 
handwriting of the individual, and the medium proceeds 
to transcribe his signature, and as she sees it inverted on 
his brain she writes it in the same manner, and hence the 
philosophy of this phenomenon. 

How strikingly do we behold this phenomenon explained, 
when we look into the camera obscura of the artist and see 
a tight, dark box, containing a lens fitted into it, through 
which the light passes as it falls upon a screen behind, 
forming an inverted image of the object to be represented ; 
how completely do we here discover also the fact that this 
instrument is copied in its contrivance from the mechan- 
ism of the eye. May we not from the light thus afforded 
conclude that there is in the manifestation of spiritualism 
no necessity for the intervention of the spirits of the 
departed dead, and if any contend for their existence may 
it not be from a deficiency of the light philosophy affords 
in their possession, and which accounts for the strangeness 
of their position ? 



115 
CHAPTER XL 

THE DEGREES OF ELECTRICAL IMPRESSION. 

This sublime combination of science and art furnishes 
arguments and illustrations which must be satisfactory to 
all who are capable of reasoning from cause to effect and 
vice 'versa, through the analogy of principles and things, 
and exhibiting the same philosophy as that involved in 
the singular mental intercourse effected by a mere act of 
the will, independent of the exercise of any of the organs 
of sense. In addition to this, may we not infer that if 
a machine produced by the inventive genius of man is 
thus adapted to convey the images of objects to a limited 
distance and there paint them in living similitude, that 
the God-like mind, with all its wonderful paraphernalia of 
physical organism, is thus adapted, claiming as its origin- 
ator and maker the skillful hand of Him who spread out 
the heavens as a curtain, and lit up its otherwise dark 
concave with the starry night-lamps of beauty ? Are we 
not here presented with sufficient evidence for the belief, 
not only of the existence of the singular phenomena, but 
that their origin is found in a combination of natural 
causes ? Indeed, this principle of mind-reading owes its 
existence to the philosophy of negative and positive in the 
science of electrics. 

In these magnetic relations of mankind, one of the pri- 
mary laws of electricity, that is two negatives and two pos- 
itives equally resist each other, while the negative and pos- 
itive come together, applies with scientific precision . An 
individual may become charged and even surcharged with 
the animal as well as the galvanic electrical force, or may 
be naturally so, and while in this condition assumes or 
sustains, in relation to all others within the circumference 



116 



of their magnetic atmosphere, the condition of positive, and 
it naturally follows that upon whomsoever from among 
them such an individual, while in this medium state, fixes 
his attention, that his mental electric agent glides as 
quickly and unmolestedly as the lightning's flash within 
the sensorium of that mind and there reads from its pic- 
torial scenery all the past impressions received from wit- 
nessing objects, or from hearing or reading descriptions 
of them, as well as his present designs and future calcula- 
tions, which constitute his individual history, much of 
which may have passed from his present mental concep- 
tion, or, to use a familiar expression, are forgotten. It is 
evident that this knowledge, thus strangely acquired by 
the familial spiritualist, may be returned to the same 
individual in the form of revelations from the spirit world 
either by writing, raps, or oral declamation. 

In regard to the distance at which these communications 
may be interchanged, we remark that it depends upon the 
difference of the magnetic temperament possessed at the 
time between the individuals thus communicating. The 
principle being the same as that exhibited by the lightning 
passing from one to another cloud in a storm, this distance 
depending upon the degree one of them is charged with 
electricity above the other, with this difference, however, 
that the negative and positive in men depends upon the 
different quality of electricity in their nerves. 

The following is a remarkable instance of this sym- 
pathetic transmission of intelligent impressions: On the 
day of Lieut. Dale's death in Syria, who belonged to the 
United States exploring expedition to the Dead Sea, which 
was sent out some years since, whose wife being then in 
Pennsylvania, remarked to a gentleman, who afterward testi- 
fied to the fact : " I wish you to note this day ; my feelings are 
so unaccountably strange, and my spirits are so depressed, 
that I am sure some great calamity awaits me ; note it, that 
it is the 24th day of July," and which afterward proved to 



117 

be the very day on which her husband, in that far distant 
land, had expired. In regard to the philosophy of this 
singular occurrence, we would remark that on the day this 
lady received this impression her mind was turned with 
peculiar solicitude toward her beloved husband, the inten- 
sity of whose feelings were produced by his sufferings. 
Under these afflicting circumstances, his mind was deeply 
fixed upon his wife, fervently desiring she should know 
his condition, producing in her mind as intense a desire 
to be thus informed, when, as quick as the lightning's flash, 
these sympathetic impressions were communicated. Simi- 
lar occurrences are so frequent that it would be tedious 
and useless to continue their relation. 

How common for an individual, while approaching a 
friend after a long absence, for the latter to have his mind 
suddenly arrested with thoughts of him, when he immedi- 
ately enters his presence, hence the adage, " talk of the 
devil and he is always at your heels." We are aware that 
it is contended that individuals susceptible of this medium 
state, or that of magnetic influence which are identical, 
are said to be in a negative magnetic condition, but the 
fact that adding to always renders more positive, and as 
this is the principle of magnetizing, it proves this to be 
untenable, the fact being that such are rendered positive 
just in proportion as they have been charged higher than 
their natural condition by the electric forces received 
from other minds, hence it is not the impressions being 
conveyed to the minds of the mediums which gives them 
this power of spirit familiarity, but the ability thus 
acquired to read the secrets of other minds ; we speak now 
of making mediums by magnetizing them to sleep. There 
was a lady in one of the western States whose mind and 
body, while in this medium condition, was so highly 
charged with the electric force that chairs and other arti- 
cles would fall in the vacuum produced by her simply 
walking through the room. 



118 



CHAPTER XR 



THE WITCH OF ENDOR. 

Let us now examine the case of the witch of Endor, who 
is supposed to have raised the prophet Samuel from the 
dead, in order to show the superior advancement of an- 
cient spiritualism, but at the same time of its identity 
with that of the modern spiritualists. Although this prac- 
tice was prohibited by a divine statute, the infringement 
of which was held to be a capital offense, which was an- 
nounced by the use of such emphatic language as that 
" Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live ;" " There shall not 
be found among you any one that maketh his son or his 
daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, 
or an observer of the times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 
or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a 
wizard, or a necromancer, for all that do these things are 
an abomination unto the Lord, and because of these abom- 
inations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before 
thee." 

Here we perceive that the divine inhibition was equally 
against those who consulted the familiar spiritualists as 
well as those who possessed them, and that these terms 
comprehend every imaginable phase and feature of spirit- 
ualism, which, in all ages of the world, has manifested 
itself, every characteristic of which has been practiced by 
idolatrous priests, to give a mysterious and false dignity 
to their various forms of man-degrading superstition and 
folly, and even the modern charmers have selected sub- 
stantially from this nomenclature the badge of their pro- 
fession, spiritualists. We repeat, that, notwithstanding 
these practices were thus inhibited by divine statutes, with 
pains and penalties affixed, yet it is recorded of Saul, the 



119 

king of Israel, after he found that the Lord had forsaken 
him, and he could obtain no more answers from him, 
neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by the prophets, that 
he had recourse to this practice, hence said to his servants, 
" Seek me out a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I 
may inquire of her." 

It is rather significant that it was the women of ancient 
as well as of modern times who were possessed of the 
familiar spirit. But, after their research, they found such 
a woman who dwelt at a place called Endor, and who was 
probably a witch of great celebrity, especially among the 
higher classes ; so at night (the season most appropriate for 
such dark business) the king dressed himself in disguise, 
and followed his servant-guides through the dark and 
lonely thickets of Endor, until they arrived at the door of 
the secluded harem where dwelt the interdicted spiritual- 
ist; after obtaining an entrance, and the preliminaries 
being arranged, one of which was that the stranger should 
swear unto her that, if she would consent to divine unto 
him, no evil should befall her in consequence ; then 
said the woman, "Whom shall I bring up unto thee?" 
and he said, "Bring me up Samuel the prophet," And 
when the woman saw Samuel she cried with a loud voice, 
and the woman spake to Saul, saying, " Why hast thou 
deceived me, for thou art Saul," and the king said unto 
her, " Be not afraid, for what seest thou ? " and the woman 
said unto Saul, " I saw gods arising out of the earth ; " 
and he said unto her, " What form is he of ? " and she said, 
"An old man cometh up, and he is covered with a mantle ; " 
and Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped 
with his face to the ground, and bowed himself. Then 
follows the communication (as it was supposed) from Sam- 
uel the prophet, through the witch medium, the substance 
of which is as follows : — First, that in consequence of the 
king not having given heed to the calamities which Sam- 
uel the prophet had predicted would come upon him for 



120 

his having forsaken the Lord, that the Lord in return had 
abandoned him, and that he was now not only to lose the 
kingdom in his own person, but it was to be rent from his 
whole posterity and turned over to his neighbor, David, 
and his line of succession. This theomancy closes with 
the fearful announcement that on the coming day both 
Saul and his sons were to be with Samuel among the dead. 
We are aware that it has been supposed that this witch 
did actually raise the prophet from the dead, and had it 
not been for the revival of the divination of antiquity 
under the pious name of spiritualism, but which consists 
in the magnetic influence of mesmerism, such an idea 
might have still been entertained with no small degree of 
plausibility, and the book which contained the narration 
still been exposed to the ignorant jeers of infidelity, which 
skepticism has delighted to pour upon its sacred pages, 
but, with the light thus afforded, such are left like Samson 
shorn of his locks. We observe, in this account of ancient 
spirit familiarity, that the witch required the king to tell 
her the name of the person with whom he desired to hold 
converse, to which he readily consented. It was probably 
new business for Saul, who had not yet learned the lying 
deception thus practiced upon the credulous. 

The Chaldean king having been favored with this 
experience, and who on one occasion summoned all the 
magicians, astrologers and sorcerers of his empire to 
make known to him his dream, and the interpretation 
thereof, which duty he imposed upon them ; they answered 
him : " let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will 
show the king the interpretation thereof, for there is no 
king, lord, nor ruler that asketh such a thing of any 
magician, astrologer or Chaldean." "Nay," said he, "but 
tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can show me the 
interpretation thereof ; there is but one decree for you, for 
ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before 
the king." Although it is not absolutely essential that the 



121 

inquirer should tell the name of the individual who is to 
be consulted, nevertheless it greatly facilitates and renders 
correct the responses, inasmuch as the name of an indi- 
vidual is always associated with his particular history, and 
as every mind has within itself the prominent historic 
events of those with whom they have been acquainted, 
therefore by naming any one of whom directly introduces 
that individual to the mind of the medium, enabling her 
to select and read from the mind of the inquirer that 
chain of historic facts which belonged to the person about 
whom the consultation is being prosecuted, with much 
greater ease and correctness than though the medium was 
obliged to depend upon the sympathetic association and 
mental concentration existing at that particular hour 
between the inquirer and the individual about whom the 
inquiry is being made. If Saul, therefore, had been 
skeptical in regard to the honesty and ability of the 
medium to reveal to him what he desired, and had with- 
held the name of the deceased prophet, it would only 
have taxed a little more severely the familiar spirit of the 
Endor witch. Although Saul had this confidence in regard 
to information coming from such a source, still it must be 
remembered it was his last extremity, and hence only 
applied to after all other sources of instruction of such a 
nature had utterly failed him, proving that it was of the 
most doubtful kind, in which he could repose confidence. 
The God of Israel had turned a deaf ear to all his solici- 
tations, he could obtain no more answers through the 
divinely arranged medium of the Urim and Thummim in 
the tabernacle ; the voice of the Lord's prophets, whose 
warnings and reproofs the rebellious king had long since 
ceased to regard, were heard no more bearing their 
instructive messages, and in this state it was that the 
abandoned king desperately concluded to hold a midnight 
consultation with a witch, notwithstanding a statute of 
his own kingdom required their utter extermination, and 



122 

which, in the former part of his reign, he had most zeal- 
ously executed. 

If we pay particular attention to this history of divina- 
tion, we will see that Saul did not see the person of the 
prophet, but, from the description the witch gave of him, 
in answer to the question of Saul, " whom seeth thou ? M 
which he put to the witch, " and what form is he of ? * 
saying " an old man cometh up and he is covered with a 
mantle," we say it was from this description of Samuel that 
Saul perceived that it was him whom the witch saw, and 
immediately was he seized with those feelings of awe and 
reverence which characterizes the spiritualists at the 
present day, when some notorious spirit announces its 
presence by insignificant raps or otherwise. This Endor 
witch had attained a superior state of development ; her 
power of spirit familiarity being so great that, with the 
least effort, she could put herself into the mesmeric or 
spirit-medium state, and immediately she was in electric 
sympathy with the mind of the excited king, and, on its 
living tablets, beheld the likeness of Samuel the prophet 
vividly transcribed, and no sooner had she made this dis- 
covery than she also perceived, from the relative associa- 
tion of events which had existed between these two notable 
personages, that it was Saul himself who stood before her, 
and, becoming alarmed for her own safety, exclaimed, 
" Why hast thou deceived me, for thou art Saul ?" which, 
however, was quieted by the king's response, "Be not 
afraid, for whom seeth thou ? " That part of the communi- 
cation which announced the death of Saul and his sons 
on the coming day was simply a confirmation of his own 
fearful apprehensions, which the surrounding circum- 
stances, portentious of disaster, defeat and ruin, naturally 
suggested. 

In this extremity the abandoned king's mind, intensified 
with excitement and absorbingly concentrated upon one 
subject, presented a picture as easy to be read by the witch 



123 

medium as could possibly be conceived. This was proba- 
bly the first circle Saul had ever attended, and he seems 
to have become perfectly charmed by the medium, re- 
ceiving her announcements with as much reverence and 
dignity as though they issued from heaven itself; he 
bowed himself and stooped to the ground. Saul must 
have reasoned thus with himself: The Lord, whose 
" throne is high and lifted up," sends me no more answers 
and now, if these be gods who thus communicate, they 
must be of an earthly nature ; this thought the witch 
caught from his mind, and hence she exclaims, " I saw 
gods ascending out of the earth" and Saul supposing she 
saw Samuel, whose venerable form was now vividly in his 
mind, inquired " What is he like?" two features of whom 
the witch proceeded to describe, relating to his age and 
raiment. " An old man cometh up, and he is covered with 
a mantle ; " this had the effect to completely overpower 
the king, and as his coming fate was thus declared it be- 
came a fixed fact in his mind. So powerful was this im- 
pression that we hesitate not to say that, in no small de 
gree, it worked out its own fulfillment — from that moment 
naught could he see before him but discomfiture, defeat 
and death. On the one hand every source of encourage- 
ment which presented itself to his bewildered mind 
dwindled away, as he contemplated it, into mere insignifi- 
cance, while, on the other hand, the least unfavorable oc- 
currence was magnified and its features distorted into a 
dark and hideous omen ; thus was he rendered an easy 
prey to his enemies. So confidently did he credit the 
witch's prediction of his approaching doom on the coming 
day that he seems to be intent on its literal fulfillment, 
and long before the day passes he is found soliciting one 
of his armor-bearers to slay him, and failing in the attempt 
he madly throws himself upon his own instrument of 
death, and thus suicidely perishes, which might have been 
averted had he not consulted this infamous witch. 



124 

CHAPTER Xin. 

THE BIBLE AND SPIRITUALISM. 

How strikingly does this example of ancient spirit famil- 
iarity correspond to the modern spirit intercourse, the cir- 
cumstances and features of which are perfectly identified. 
Both turn away from the revelations of Jehovah, and both 
in proud defiance of the Divine inhibition of the sin of 
witchcraft, nevertheless seek unto women that have famil- 
iar spirits, with whom nightly consultations are held, both 
send their invocations after the spirits of the dead. There 
is, however, much more dignity in the solemn conjurations 
of the ancient magicians, than the questions and rapping 
answers of the spiritualists, an example of which we will 
introduce : " Whatsoever ye are, shadows, substances or 
spirits, appear ; ye who have left your clay to wither, and 
are become the messengers of space, and tread the winds 
of the stasome wilderness, come forth from your stately 
heights and stand visible before me. Thou pale tenants 
of the dread Elysian, arise and be manifest. I recall thee, 
thou phantasy of the past ; thou who livest in solitude 
and darkness, appear; come like the shadows and so de- 
part." 

It must, however, be admitted, that Saul's peculiar con- 
dition furnishes something of an apology for applying to 
the witch of Endor, while the modern spiritualists, placed 
under no such circumstances, yet deliberately and per- 
petually have recourse to this dark and soul-destroying 
practice, and not only so, but superciliously declare that 
familiar spiritualism entirely supersedes any further use 
for God's holy book, but while they thus excel in wicked 
presumption those of ancient times, they come far short 
in equaling them in spirit exhibitions, from the days of 



125 

the famous witch of Endor, and even back as far as the 
days of Moses, before the exodus from Egypt, this spirit 
witchcraft had arrived at a degree of perfection that the 
modern witches, with all their boasted degrees of develop- 
ment, have scarcely began to approximate. If it were 
proper to denominate this practice anciently, familiar 
spiritualism, how much more appropriate that of modern 
spiritualism. Individuals who have believed in seeing 
and hearing spirits or ghosts, have been, perhaps, but once 
so favored or terrified by their appearance or noises in 
their whole lives, and so important an event has this been 
considered, that, if the lives of the individuals have been 
written, it has always been recorded of them, or if not, 
their children or grandchildren, from generation to genera- 
tion, would be found rehearsing this event as perhaps the 
only one of the history of their grandparents, which had 
survived oblivion. 

But these ghostly visits have become so familiar that 
their manifestations have ceased to alarm, though they 
rap never so loudly, and instead of the noises being con- 
sidered the return of some remarkably uneasy spirit, they 
are now hailed with delight, and are consulted with as 
much gravity and solemnity as though they were indeed 
a reality, and we can but suppose that so they seem to the 
spirit believers, as much so as that which Shakespeare 
supposed existed in the heat-oppressed brain of the mur- 
derous Hamlet, on the appearance of his father's ghost, 
exclaiming : 

"Angels and ministers of grace defend us ! 
Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned ; 
Bring with thee air from Heaven or blasts from hell ; 
Be thy intent wicked or charitable, 
Thou comest in such a questionable shape 
That I will speak with thee ; I'll call thee Hamlet, 
King, Father, royal Dane ; O, answer me ; 
Let me not burst in ignorance, but tell , 
Why thy bones, hearsed in canonized earth, 



126 

Have burst their cerements ; why the sepulchre, 
Wherein we saw thee quietly inurned, 
Hath oped its pondrous and marble jaws 
To cast thee up again ! What may this mean? 
That thou, dead corpse, again in complete steel 
Revisitest thus the glimpses of the moon, 
Making night hideous with tho'ts beyond 
The reaches of our souls." 

MACBETH. 
"Is this a dagger which I now see before me, 
The handle toward my hand? come, let me clutch thee! 
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still, 
In form as palpable as that which now I draw. 
Words to the heat of deeds to cold breath gives, 
I go, 'tis done, the bell invites me : 
Hear it not, Duncan ? for it is a knell 
That summons thee to Heaven or to hell." 

If Shakespeare had lived in our day of spirit familiarity 
he would never have disgraced the tragical scenes of 
Macbeth with the introduction of this imaginative, ghostly 
visit. But we conclude by expressing the hope, notwith- 
standing this sad picture of human frailty we are thus 
called upon to contemplate, that spiritualism has done its 
worst, having reached the culminating point in its ruinous 
career, from whence the mysterious veil is withdrawn and 
the ethereal travelers returning without a vision to the 
appropriate theater of human rationality. 

At this point we propose to consider the connection and 
contrast between spiritualism and divine revelation. As 
the advocates of the new religion assume that it super- 
sedes any further use for that contained in the Bible, we 
propose to investigate the grounds upon which it rests, to 
see whether indeed it is well founded. 

We remark, in the first place, that there is a vast differ- 
ence between the respective authors of these systems of 
revelation, while the one claims the Supreme Deity of the 
universe as the author and inspirer of its sentiments, the 
other has a combined authorship of three classes of beings, 



127 

namely, angels, devils or wicked spirits, and the spirits of 
the good who have died. As it is admitted that all these 
classes are created beings, and therefore subordinate, and 
depending upon the divinity of the scriptures for their 
existence and all the knowledge possessed by them of a 
future state, and as they are engaged, or are supposed to 
oe ; in instigating their congenial spirits of mortality to be- 
lieve and propagate sentiments antagonistic to those con- 
tained in the Bible, is the supposition admissible that they 
are of a character calculated to supersede those of divine 
revelation ? This presumption appears still more absurd, 
when it is considered that these spirits do not even pretend 
to act otherwise than independent, not even professing to 
be commissioned ambassadors of the Great Proprietor of 
the universe, and, if they were, would it be rational to 
credit their messages unless bearing the unmistakable 
marks of divine origin ? In order to be such, they should 
necessarily contain information relating to the origin and 
destiny of our race, more consonant with common sense 
and harmonious with scripture truth, furnishing additional 
instruction to their teaching upon these great topics ; ad- 
ducing also more light than they furnish in regard to the 
course to be pursued by men in the present state in order 
to answer the design of their being in futurity. We say 
this instruction must be in harmony with that which the 
Bible contains, because there is the most indisputable evi- 
dence for the belief that "the scriptures came not in old 
time by the will of man, but holy men of old wrote as tliey 
were moved by tlie Holy Ghost" 

This evidence is spread out before the investigating 
mind of the world; and, in the present day, assuming 
more the form of conclusions than of premises. Indeed, 
we have now reached a promontory in " the controversy 
of Zion," including the truths of nature connected there- 
with, from whose elevation we may retrospect the past and 
behold the whole fraternity of the skeptical, though en- 



128 

dowed with the most gigantic intellects and towering 
degrees of mental culture, all along the wayside of the 
march of philosophy and scientific discovery, lay in van- 
quished and hopeless desolation. The two great sources 
of argument, which vindicate, beyond the possibility of 
successful controversy, the divine origin of the Bible, are : 
first, that its principles are found to be in the most beau- 
tiful concord with all the demonstrated truths of science 
and philosophy; and, secondly, its prophetic predictions 
are fulfilled in the civil and ecclesiastical history of the 
world, up to the present period. So far has the light of 
the past established the divine origin or authorship of the 
Scriptures, that it is as rational to conclude that no future 
discovery will be calculated to invalidate this claim and to 
show it to be not the book of all time and equally indis- 
pensable to all generations, as to suppose that the discovery 
of some future planet or satellite, revolving in space, will 
prove the whole system of astronomy to be false and of no 
further use to mankind. 

But some of these spirits not only teach that the Bible 
is without divine origin but openly declare, through their 
mediums, that there is no God, such as the Christian wor- 
ships. It may indeed be, though in their highest spheres 
they have never obtained a glimpse of His adorable per- 
son, and their opposition to the Bible would seem to iden- 
tify them with that class of whom it is written, " They 
shall be banished from the presence of the Lord, and the 
glory of His power." Engaged in making these revelations, 
professedly, are such spirits as those of Payne, Voltaire, 
Volney, Gibon and others of like sentiments, who, not sat- 
isfied with their earthly career of abuse of God's holy 
book, are still intent on the accomplishment of this idol- 
ized purpose of their lives, the destruction of the hated 
Bible. No marvel, therefore, that spiritualism should pro- 
fess to supersede any further necessity for it. 

It requires but a very superficial acquaintance with the 



129 

history of our race to convince any one that relinquish- 
ment upon the Bible is the very last requisition with which 
mankind should yield compliance. 

If that degree of advancement to which civilization has 
arrived is held in high esteem by the intelligent, it must 
be remembered that its first twinkling star was lighted at 
the shrine of divine revelation, and ev^ry additional one, 
developed by its onward progress, down to the nineteenth 
century of the Christian era, forms but a circling constella- 
tion around this great central sun, whose radiating force 
holds them within its territorial circumference, scarcely a 
ray of which has ever dawned upon any nation destitute 
of the Bible. 

Should civilization, therefore, yield its grasp on this 
sacred luminary, and consent that it should be forever 
obliterated from the remembrance of mankind ; would its 
sun not go down in an eternal eclipse, and retrogression 
henceforth mark its sad career? Can the world cease to be 
thus reluctant until it is demonstrated, beyond all possibil- 
ity of failure, that something was discovered better cal- 
culated to do its work in this direction? and can it be 
supposed that spiritualism, originating in no higher a 
source than the Fox family, and dating no farther back 
than the Rochester knockings, has already accomplished 
the transcendent achievement of eclipsing God's holy book, 
the moral, and I may also say intellectual, light of the 
world ? 

Are the principles of humanity held in admiration by 
the heart of the world ? from whence did they originate ? 
where, if not in the Bible, were its lessons first inculcated ? 
is it not true, that in whatever country the circulation of 
the scriptures are inhibited by law, there humanity is 
almost a stranger ; and where it is entirely unknown is 
witnessed a vivid picture of those beautiful lines of Burns : 

"Man's inhumanity to man, 
Makes countless thousands mourn." 



130 

But we would ask if this claim of spiritualism is, to say 
the least, not made prematurely ? Has its principles ever 
been tried independent of those of the Bible, or where it 
was unknown? Has its advocates ever turned mission- 
aries and gone with their rapping revelations and table- 
tippings to the dark wilds of heathenism, as the heralds of 
the Cross have done, with the " sword of the spirit, which 
is the word of God ? " and with such instrumentalities suc- 
ceeded in overthrowing the gods of the savage, and in con- 
verting his dark mind from rude barbarianism, to a 
peaceful member of human society and an example of 
humanity, having exchanged his instruments of cruelty 
for works of mercy, and the superstitious rites of idolatry 
for "the peaceful fruits of righteousness?" If its prin- 
ciples (we repeat) have been tested in accomplishing this 
great work more perfectly, and generally in a shorter 
period of time than it has been done in thousands of in- 
stances by the gospel of the Son of God in the hands of his 
ambassadors, then, indeed, would such a claim demand the 
respectful consideration of mankind. 

But, instead of having pursued this commendable course, 
their converts are only made where this work of humaniz- 
ing, moralizing and christianizing society, has been already 
accomplished by the power of the scriptures of truth, and 
even here, instead of these being the fruits (and the tree 
is to be known by its fruits) of spiritualism, to the disgrace 
of the system, be it said, that many a man, and perhaps 
many more women, have been seduced from the high and 
holy calling of Christianity, to the reception of these mes- 
meric (but supposed spirit) revelations, having thus thrown 
off the restraints of the Bible, they even seem to emulate 
each other in expressions of ridicule and contempt of this 
holy and awful volume. 

It is true that some confessed infidels, by their conver- 
sion to the new religion, say that they are somewhat more 
friendly to the Bible, their hatred is not so rampant as for- 



131 

merly in this direction ; but we think these are fairly 
represented by those converts which were made some 
eighteen hundred years since, of whom the Great Teacher 
declared, although sea and land had been compassed for 
this purpose, that the proselytes were two-fold more the 
children of hell, than they were themselves. But in the 
more direct discussion of this claim of the spiritualists, we 
remark, that any system adapted to supersede another 
must be superior to it in the accomplishment of the 
object proposed, both as a whole, and in its individual 
parts, if such it has. The object contemplated by the 
scriptures is the highest development of man of which 
his nature is susceptible, as a mental, moral, and physical 
being. Spiritualism, therefore, in order to be successfully 
vindicated, must be shown to be superior for the achieve- 
ment of this great work, in these several departments of 
human nature. 

In order to present the leading features of the spirit 
theory, so that they might appear in contrast with the 
leading features of revelation, we have found it almost 
impossible to select from among the scattered fragments 
of the new religion any thing like a consistent and tangi- 
ble system, touching its theory of a future state ; the gen- 
erality of the spirit revelations, consisting as they do of 
such a heterogeneous mass of contradictory confusion. 
Whether we should consult the writings of Judge Edmonds 
as standard works, or those of Andrew Jackson Davis, or 
the revelations of the notorious Foxes of Rochester, we 
have been at an utter loss to decide, and we are therefore 
left to select, as best we may, from this mysterious chaos, 
what constitutes the doctrines of spiritualism. The Bible 
presents the resurrection of the dead as one of its funda- 
mental doctrines, which is set forth by an inspired apostle 
in the following emphatic language : " If there be no res- 
urrection of the dead, then is Christ , not risen, and if 
Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your 
faith is also vain ; yea, and we are found false witnesses of 



132 

God, because we have testified of God that he raised up 
Christ, whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise 
not, for if the dead rise not then is Christ not raised, and 
if Christ be not raised, ye are in your sins, then they also 
which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished ! " 

" If after the manner of men I have fought with the 
beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me if the dead 
rise not ? Let us eat, drink and be merry, for to-morrow 
we die." Thus it is obvious, that the teachings of the Bible 
make the transpiration of this great event fundamental 
to that development of the saints in a future state of being, 
in order that they may be capable of the enjoyment of its 
eternal fruition. The spiritualists, on the contrary, believe 
that when each successive member of our race dies, he 
enters immediately into that peculiar sphere adapted to 
the precise degree of mental and moral development which 
he had attained while living, and from thence commences 
a progressive pilgrimage of disciplinary ascension toward 
higher spheres, and which movement is also interminable. 
In regard to the term " sphere" whether it is employed to 
signify geographical dimensions, theaters of action, or 
motion, or states of mind, it is equally impossible to ab- 
stract from it the idea of locality. 

From this view of sphere, together with the fact that no 
two individuals of our race died when they had reached 
that precise degree of mental and moral development, and 
hence no two were ever introduced at the event of death 
into the same sphere or place, and remembering also that 
it is claimed that each progresses steadily toward higher 
spheres, from these positions we argue that association is 
an impossibility, and the conclusion unavoidable, that there 
are as many spheres in this ethereal expansion as there are 
individuals who have ever lived and died, or whoever will 
thus appear and depart, each of whom, isolated, may with 
the island exile say, 

" I am monarch of all I survey, 
My right there is none to dispute." 



133 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE FUTURE STATE OF THE BIBLE AND SPIRITUALISM: 
CONTRASTED. 

Each of these spheres are ascendingly vacated as other 
spirits enter from below. If the claim is admitted that 
some progress with greater rapidity than others, still it 
only proves that the spirits may thus occasionally come 
within speaking distance of each other, like ships at sea, 
but such communications must necessarily be short and 
indistinct, transpiring only while being hurried along by 
the gravitating power of the higher sphere, but permanent 
association is utterly incompatible with this theory. 
Strange facilities such a state furnishes for disciplinary 
progress or the development of its inhabitants ; no marvel 
that the spirits should have retrograded since their 
entrance therein, as the interest they manifest in making 
the presumptuous and senseless revelations of spiritual- 
ism shows them to have done. In contrast to this, the 
Bible reveals a state of glorious being, whose inhabitants 
are to be eternally allied with the principles of immortal- 
ity and incorruption, formed and fashioned like Christ's 
glorious body. It requires but a very limited comprehen- 
sion to conceive the adaptation in the most perfect and 
exquisite degree, of such a state to meet the highest aspira- 
tions of the human mind; how absurd the presumption 
that such a future state of being is superseded by these 
ethereal vagaries of the new religion. Indeed, had it not 
been that the Bible reveals a future state of existence, we 
can hardly conceive how such an idea would have ever 
found its way within the realm of human thought. If it 
is said that heathen nations thus believe, we answer that 
their ideas in this direction are but traditionary corrup- 



134 

tions of the revelations of the Deity of that state contained 
in the Bible. This is easily conceived when the fact is 
taken in consideration that the Bible justly claims chrono- 
logical priority to all forms of religious belief ; this idea 
is also confirmed by the fact that they all bear some 
characteristic features resembling those of the Bible ; there 
is, for instance, an organized priesthood, common to all 
forms of heathenish and idolatrous worship. There is 
also that of sacrificial offerings, which are offered in the 
idol-temples, the virtue of which are supposed to render 
the gods propitious. 

There are many other features of identity between all 
the forms of heathen worship, no matter how degraded 
they have become, which we might introduce, but we 
suppose these to be sufficient to show them all to have had 
a common origin and that origin the holy scriptures ; 
therefore, we still maintain that, had they never been 
written, mankind would never have had the least concep- 
tion of a future existence, and, of course, of any thing re- 
lating thereto. The new religion of spiritualism entirely 
dispenses with all these elements, which characterizes all 
other forms of religious belief, showing it to have de- 
scended to a depth of corruption far below Bhuddism, 
Hindooism, Mohammedanism, and even Mormonism, all of 
which have their regularly established priesthood, and 
fully credit the doctrine of the necessity of sacrifice in 
order to obtain the complacency and favor of the gods ; 
but so perfectly etherealized is spiritualism that every 
thing like substantiality is magically dissipated, as well 
in the present as the future, by the touch of its spirit 
fingers, showing it to be in the widest contrast of all 
others of human invention, which have ever bewildered 
the minds of men, to that contained in the Bible. 

But what are some of the elements of that future state 
portrayed by the pen of divine inspiration? and how are' 
they adapted to meet the natural aspirations of the hu 



135 

man mind ? In answer to which, in the first place, we 
find man placing a higher estimate on the possession of 
life, than any other conceivable acquisition, to meet this 
longing element of the soul, the Bible proposes to confer 
this boon upon him eternally. Exclaimed the great 
Teacher, in relation to that state, " Neither can they 
die any more." On the last lovely morning shall the re- 
deemed turn their eyes from the dark and ruinable 
tomb to scenes of life and immortality ; they shall hear 
the voice of the author of the new creation exclaiming, 
"Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; and the 
earth shall cast out her dead." In response to which 
the prophet declares, " Thy dead men shall live, together 
with my dead body shall they awake," and the song 
shall be chanted over vanquished sepulchres, " 0, death ! 
where is thy sting ? 0, grave ! where is thy victory ? M 
Next to this inherent in the human mind, is found an 
insatiable thirst for permanent happiness, to meet which 
the Bible proposes conditions with which every one 
may comply, an introduction into an eternal state of un- 
alloyed felicity wherein " there are pleasures forever- 
more." The human mind also deprecates the existence 
of that pain, suffering and deprivation, incident to the 
present state of being. The future of the Bible forever 
excludes all these from its immortal realm. 

The mind, also, starts back at the idea of constitutional 
corruption and decay to counteract the ravages of these 
principles. It is not only proposed to re-create the dead 
into incorruptible beings, to bloom in eternal youth, but 
to introduce them into an inheritance which is itself incor- 
ruptible and as fadeless as immortality. How senseless 
that such a system can possibly be improved, and how 
impossible for human conception to invent a superior one, 
and which is indispensable in order to supersede this ; and 
how notoriously insignificant the chimera of spiritualism 
appears in the contrast. But the darkest feature of the 



136 

new religion is manifested in the adroitness with which 
the existence and importance of Jesus Christ, in order to 
the development of man in the present and future state, 
is treated. A being who comprehends in his own person 
all that is ennobling and worthy of imitation, and without 
whose example, which others have partially followed, 
Socrates would perhaps have been the highest example 
of human development of which the world ever could 
have boasted. 

They have ranked this glorious being, most blasphem- 
ously, at the head of this wizard tribe of familiar spiritual- 
ists. The necessity of His sacrificial death, in order to 
the elevation of man in a future state of perfection and 
endless glory, meets with no sympathy by the spirit frater- 
nity, who, by the merits due to their own virtue, climb 
from the lowest hell, or, to use their mild phrase, sphere, 
up to the highest heaven. 

That these are not new doctrines, but substantially those 
of heathen philosophy, will appear by a few quotations 
from the writings of Socrates and Euclid : Says the former, 
" When the dead are arrived at the fatal rendezvous of 
departed spirits, whither their demon conducts them, they 
are all judged; those who have passed their lives in a 
manner neither entirely criminal nor absolutely innocent, 
are sent into a place where they suffer pains proportion- 
ate to their faults till, being thus cleansed and purged of 
their guilt, are afterward set at liberty and receive the re- 
ward of their good actions which were done while in the 
body ; but those who have passed their lives with peculiar 
sanctity of manners, and are delivered from their bodies 
as base earthly abodes, as from prisons, are received on- 
high in a pure region which they inhabit, and, as philoso- 
phy has sufficiently purified them, they live through all 
eternity in a series of joys and delight which I cannot 
easily describe." 

The opinion, also, of Euclid, in reply to inquiries from 



137 

his friends in relation to a future state, upon which he had 
been discoursing, thus resumed the subject: "It is pre- 
sumed that there are above us an infinite number of other 
beings who escape our sight/' 

This opinion, conformable to the progress of nature, is 
equally ancient and general among various nations from 
whom we have borrowed it, and we believe the earth and 
heavens to be filled with genii, to whom the Supreme Be- 
ing has confided the government of the universe. We 
distribute them throughout all animated nature, but prin- 
cipally in those regions which extend around and above 
us from the earth to the sphere of the moon. There, ex- 
ercising an extensive authority, they dispense life and 
death, good and evil, light and darkness. The innumer- 
able number of spirits we divide into four classes: the 
first is that of the gods who reside in the stars; the 
second, that of the genii ; that of heroes ; and the souls of 
men after they are separated from their bodies ; and these 
are subject to changes by which they pass to a superior 
crder. From the rudest kind of existence we ascend, by 
imperceptible degrees, to our own species ; and, in proceed- 
ing from that limit to the divinity, we must, no doubt, pass 
through different orders of intelligence, so much the more 
glorious and refined as they approach to the throne of the 
Eternal Being. 

Although the doctrine of the so-called new religion thus 
originated, yet there is one point of difference showing it 
to be more inconsistent, as well in the nature of things, as 
with the teachings of the Bible. 

While Socrates taught that those who lived and died 
destitute of a moral fitness for virtuous and holy associa- 
tion, could never obtain it in the future state, the latter 
adopt the dogma that all, without regard to moral charac- 
ter, will finally reach the abode of holy beings. Says he, 
" Those who are judged to be incurable, on account of the 
greatness of their crimes, having deliberately committed 



138 

sacrileges, murders, and other great offenses, the fatal des- 
tiny that passes judgment upon them hurls them into 
Tartarus, from whence they never escape." But now let us 
see whether the claim of spiritualism, in regard to man 
as a moral being, is any more susceptible of being sus- 
tained. Any system or set of rules calculated to develop 
the moral nature of man must be adapted to enlist the 
feelings or sensibilities, by presenting to the judgment a 
certain course of action, the pursuit of which will enhance 
the pleasurable sensations of our nature, either in the 
present or future state. Admitting the correctness of this 
principle, it follows that that system of motives appealing 
to the greatest number of moral sentiments, and embrac- 
ing in the greatest degree those things after which the 
minds of men instinctively aspire, as a reward to induce 
virtuous action, is the one best calculated to develop the 
moral nature of man, and we are free to admit that it is 
the system destined to supersede every other and that it is 
right it should do so, and we will add that no man can be 
justly considered a benefactor of his race who withholds 
from it his influence and aid in order to insure its speedy 
and triumphant success. 

In order, therefore, to test the respective claims in this 
respect of spiritualism and revelation, let us consider these 
claims. In reference to the former, we remark, that we 
know of but two sentiments it contains possessing to any 
degree the power of incentive to induce moral rectitude. 
One of these is, that the spirits sometimes expose gross 
crimes and those who commit them, hence sinners should 
be cautious. In relation to the ability of these mediums 
to detect crime and criminals, we remark, that it is only 
available within the spirit sympathy or atmosphere of 
such mediums, and, therefore, if the self-conscious trans- 
gressor would avoid detection and exposure, he must 
simply absent himself from the spirit circles. If the influ- 
ence of the spirits through the mediums is not thus cir- 



139 

cumscribed, and they are able to expose all the crimes and 
criminals in the community, why do they not immediately 
commence the accomplishment of so desirable a task. It 
is true that they might by such procedure draw down the 
vengeance of the wicked upon their heads, and some of 
the mediums might be sacrificed in consequence, but what 
matters that, if they succeed in giving the world, as is 
conjectured, a new religion, possessed of this moral power 
and one that all men will embrace, they should consent to 
the immolation of a whole hecatomb of mediums, if such 
would be the result. But the fact is they can expose no 
crimes or criminals only such as they read from the 
mind of those in their presence who have been either 
guilty themselves or know of those who are. 

The other article in the spirit creed, of this character, is 
that the more moral and virtuous men become in this life, 
the higher correspondingly will be their sphere as a start- 
ing point in the ethereal ascension after death. 

At first sight, this seems to present something of a mo- 
tive to virtue, but which dissolves into pure weakness 
when it is considered that the spirit climbers have eternal 
duration stretching before them in which ample amends 
may be made for any failure in life. Upon this principle, 
how natural to reason thus : when a transaction presents 
itself, that, if indulged, would degrade human nature and 
moral sentiment, and which would infringe the rights and 
interests of others, to gratify our own selfish ends, what 
matters it suppose in consequence I am obliged to take a 
little lower seat in the Swedenborgian heaven, the circles 
of eternity spread out before me, in which I shall have 
ample opportunity to rise, from no matter how low the 
locality, to the transcendent heights above. In these 
ambitious flights the strains of Lucifer may be reiterated, 
and the transgressor may sing with the rebellious angel, 
" I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above 
the stars of God, I will set upon the mount of the congre- 



140 

gation, I will ascend above the clouds, and be like the 
Most High." He'll therefore do the inhibited deed. These 
lines of Burns, 

"The fear of hell 's the hangman's whip, 
To keep the wretch in order," 

has no terrors for him. As this is the moral cord with 
which spiritualism is going to transform human society, 
we feel no small reluctance in submitting the principles 
of inspiration for the accomplishment of this grand object, 
to comparison with such a system, lest their sublime and 
God-reflecting character should become tarnished by the 
contact. 






141 



CHAPTER XV. 

THAT SPIRITUALISM SUPERSEDES THE BIBLE. 

Nevertheless, as we intend to fully expose the weakness 
and wickedness of this system of folly and presumption, 
we are under the necessity of introducing some of the 
moral precepts of the Nazarene, the dignity and glory of 
which sheds a hallowed radiance around his exalted name. 
To love them that love you had been the common dictate 
of human nature, but to love your enemies, to pray for 
them that despitefully use and persecute you ; to render 
good for evil, in a word " as ye would men should do unto 
you, do ye even so unto them," was first announced to the 
world by Him whose auditors acknowledged " spake as 
never man spake before." This moral law of Jesus pre- 
sents not only a sublime standard for the government of 
all the relations of human society, but a characteristic sim- 
plicity so free from ambiguity and mystery that its impo- 
sitions may be understood by all grades of minds who 
possess moral character. It is so broad in its application, 
that there is not an act which it is possible to commit in 
any relation of life, but to which this significant rule, as 
steadily as the needle to the pole, points the course to be 
pursued. The inducements here furnished to moral vir- 
tue, and the inseparable development of the moral virtue 
of man connected therewith are as comprehensive as that 
nature, and as individual as man's moral sentiments, each 
requisition of which finds its counterpart interwoven in 
that nature, and by adherence thereto crucifies the natural 
propensities to wrong, and establishes those of holiness 
and unsullied rectitude. And in addition to all this, and 
to render the whole system one of infinite perfection, we 



142 

are furnished with the pure example of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, who in his whole earthly career, although sur- 
rounded with circumstances of trial of incomparable mag- 
nitude, never betrayed a weakness or sign of fallibility. 
We have now presented but a very imperfect sketch of 
that state of futurity drawn by the pen of inspiration, and 
we have seen how beautifully its sentiments accord with, 
and are calculated to meet even to satiety, the most soaring 
aspirations of the human mind, and we have also pre- 
sented as good a view of the spirit theory as it merits, and 
we would ask if its spherical etherealism, strongly resem- 
bling the incomprehensible fabric of a vision, is possessed 
of that dignity and virtue calculated to supersede any 
farther necessity for the Bible. It were more reasonable 
to yield to the claim of Mahommedanism that the Koran 
was thus adapted, or the mysterious plates of Joe Smith, 
both of which are more sensible and calculated to accom- 
plish more good than spiritualism and infinitely less mis- 
chief. Although this is the character of spiritualism, still 
it is possessed of so much importance that its history is 
made a subject of apostolic prediction, and the church 
directed what course to pursue in regard to it, when it 
made its appearance. 

This picture and prediction is contained in Paul's second 
epistle to Timothy, which runs thus : " This know also 
that in the last days perilous times shall come, for men 
shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, 
proud, blasphemous, disobedient to parents, unthankful, 
unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false- 
accusers, incontinent, fierce despisers of those that are 
good, traitors, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than 
God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power 
thereof ; from such turn away. For of this sort are they 
who creep into houses, and lead captive silly women, laden 
with sins, ever learning, but never able to come to the 
knowledge of the truth ; now as Jannes and Jambres with- 



143 

stood Moses, so do these always resist the truth ; men of 
corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. 

But they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall 
be manifest to all men, as theirs also was. As we are 
here referred to the fact of Moses having been withstood 
by two of the most renowned among the Egyptian familiar 
spiritualists, whose names St. Paul gives as Jannes and 
Jambres, it becomes necessary to refer to that event in 
order to understand the character of that opposition, and 
hence that of those whom they are introduced to repre- 
sent. 

God instructed Moses to go in unto Pharaoh and cast 
his rod down before him, and it would become a serpent, 
which was done in order to convince the King of the 
divine character of his mission. But Pharaoh called in 
his wise men and the sorcerers, and the magicians of 
Egypt, and they did in like manner with their enchant- 
ments ; their rods also became serpents, at least so they 
appeared to Moses and Pharaoh, their minds having 
become so charmed by the influence thrown around them 
by the magicians thus distorting or changing their vision 
just as mesmerism and spiritualism does in these days. 
According to another direction, Moses stretched his rod 
over the land of Egypt, and frogs covered the land, and 
the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought 
up frogs on the land. These were the only two of the ten 
plagues of Moses in which the arts of the magicians were 
at all successful, and, entirely failing to produce the third, 
they were constrained to acknowledge, " This is the finger 
of God." 

Although the magicians had thus signally failed in their 
resistance and opposition to Moses, still the folly of Jannes 
and Jambres was not fully manifested until Moses brought 
the next plague upon Egypt, which was done by sprink- 
ling the ashes of the furnace toward heaven, which 
became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man and 



144 

beast, and the magicians could not stand before Moses 
because of the boils which fell upon them as well as upon 
the inhabitants of the land ; thus was their folly made 
manifest, but which was not fully consummated until the 
horsemen and chariots of Pharaoh and his hosts were 
dashed beneath the waves of the sea, so that not a man 
was left to tell Egypt the sad story. 

" They fled like the chaff from the scourge that pursued them t 
Vain were their steeds and chariots of war." 

In the history of these Egyptian magicians, in their 
resistance to Jehovah's truth, may Judge Edmonds and 
Dr. Dexter, including the whole fraternity of spiritualists, 
read their approaching fate which will overtake them, 
when the great author of the Bible whose inspired truth 
they are like Jannes and Jamb res engaged in resisting, by 
declaring them to be superseded, shall arise in majesty to 
vindicate his own immortal record of truth, their folly 
shall yet be made manifest, but alas ! it may be too late 
with them for repentance. 

How strikingly is the seductive course of the spiritual- 
ists here portrayed, "they creep into houses and lead 
captive silly women." How often we are shocked at the 
announcement that such and such a woman of our neigh- 
bors have become mediums or spirit-believers, at whose 
dwellings circles are nightly held, and the presence of 
spirits familiarly invoked; the sly and crafty haters of 
the Bible have crept therein, and, by the aid of a medium 
or familiar spiritualist, succeeded in completely captiva- 
ting the minds, especially of the women, by these hallu- 
cinations. 

They are also learned men, as Paul says, ever learning, 
but never come to the knowledge of the truth. They are 
also a religious body which corresponds to the prophetic 
portraiture of Paul, "having a form of godliness but 
denying the power thereof, as manifested in the sudden 



145 

conversion of a sinner, such as that of Saul of Tarsus ? " 
They are here said to be blasphemous ; how strikingly do 
their sayings of Jesus Christ fill up this part of the 
picture, traducing his god-like being to that of a mere 
wizard or superior medium. And so on we might con- 
tinue to enlarge on every characteristic sin presented in 
this graphic picture, but which only represents the infamy 
of spiritualism ; alas ! for the world, if it is to be converted 
to match this portraiture, and which no one acquainted 
w T ith the converts to this new religion can deny repre- 
sents its entire features. Before concluding we propose 
to examine some of the most prominent causes which has. 
conduced to the rapid spread of spiritualism, instead of 
admitting the claim of its advocates that it is in conse- 
quence of the superiority of the system to the religion of 
the new testament. 

The first argument we suggest upon this subject is, that 
it is founded in error. He must be indeed a very superfi- 
cial observer of human events who has not perceived the 
fact that, in the march relatively of truth and error, the 
former has always traveled slow, in the very nature of 
human thought and feelings, or perhaps more properly for 
the want of thought, having been doomed to perpetual 
contest, fighting her way, inch by inch, through every 
phase of determined opposition, which the combined igno- 
rance and superstition of the world has crowded into her 
pathway. While error, in her march of moral and intel- 
lectual virus, has not only escaped these impediments,, 
but the popular voice, in its infatuation, seems to have 
been intent in its infusing vitality into all its arterial 
ramifications, wherewith to poison and destroy the suffer- 
ing sons of men, who under its delirious effects have emu- 
lated each other in the embrace of the hideous featured 
monster. 

Although this picture presents a sad reflection on the 
history of our race, yet what great truth, either of science 
10 



146 



or revelation, which has now reached its appropriate alti- 
tude, but which has been doomed to pass this dreadful 
ordeal ? Another reason which enables us to account for 
the numerical conversion of men to spiritualism, we may 
mention the fact that its appeals are directed to those pro- 
clivities for the marvelous which they generally possess. 
Why men manifest such an insatiable thirst for the 
strange and marvelous is foreign to our subject; various 
have been the causes, both in theory and practice, which 
have conduced to the development of this phenomena, 
which for six thousand years has interwoven their delu- 
sive charms around the theater of human thought and pas- 
sion, but it is only with the fact of its existence which we 
are at present interested. In regard to which, we think, 
the history of the theories entertained by man in relation 
to a future state justifies the conclusion that the more 
strange, marvelous and mysterious and therefore the 
more incomprehensible, are its sentiments spread and in 
the same proportion will its converts be multiplied. 

It is true that many of these systems, and, perhaps, 
those which make the greatest demands on human 
credulity, are corruptions of the rational principles of 
Divine revelation, which a depraved priesthood and igno- 
rant populace have invented and practiced, but for whose 
existence the Bible is no more responsible than for that of 
Joe Smith's metallic plates, or for the mania of Mormon- 
ism, or for that of spiritualism, which owes its origin to 
the same source, but which excels all others in marvelous 
fabrication, mysterious credulity, and transcendent extrava- 
gance, and, therefore, if we except Mohammedanism, which 
made its converts by fire and sword, the new religion of 
spiritualism, according to the above principle, should have 
spread with greater rapidity than any other, and multiplied 
its converts in an unprecedented ratio. But, in addition 
to this, if we take into the account the fact, in its com- 
parative relation with Christianity, that while its requisi- 



147 

tions demand no change of human nature, in order to 
this end, while that of the Bible demands a crucifixion of 
all those moral propensities which inclines man to infringe 
the principle " as ye would men should do unto you, do 
ye even so unto them." But the new religion imposes no 
such obligations, and applies no such restraints ; on the 
contrary, proclaims to mankind, indiscriminately, eat, 
drink and be merry ; give loose reins to all your propensi- 
ties, assist to curse the world by your ungodly example, 
and all will be well in the end; there's no danger; all 
will, without fail, reach the highest spheres ; sin on, you 
shall, nevertheless, become as gods. Here are we furnished 
with an overwhelming reason, and which would be suffi- 
cient, in the absence of all others, to show, in the most 
satisfactory manner, why spiritualism is calculated to 
make more adherents, in the same period of time, than 
the religion of Jesus Christ. But in addition to this, and 
to swell the number of its devotees, it can boast of the 
conversion of thousands of infidels, who are now its sym- 
pathizers. Hitherto the whole fraternity of the skeptical 
have prided themselves in crediting no sentiment, but 
which, to their minds, reason dictated to be true, on which 
ground they disbelieved the miracles of the Bible ; but 
that this was mere pretension is now proved from the 
fact that it has been sacrificed at the shrine of the marvel- 
ous gods of the spiritualists, embracing all of its most 
visionary and incomprehensible features contained in the 
mystic creed ; thus exhibiting the fact that the former 
attitude of skepticism was only assumed for the purpose, 
as was vainly hoped, to destroy the confidence which, in 
ail ages, has been imposed in the Bible by the good and 
really intellectual ; but, having utterly failed in the 
attempt, they now eagerly embrace the spirit theory, not 
that they have real confidence in its pretensions, but 
because they see in it elements calculated to accomplish 
the dark design of the destruction of the hated Bible, and 



148 

therefore, tliey have clothed themselves with its shining 
garments, and sing enchantingly as a seraph of light ; the 
Bible is good enough, but there is no further use for it. 

Here, therefore, are we furnished with the true reasons 
to show why spiritualism has so rapidly spread and multi- 
plied its disciples, instead of being ascribed to its superi- 
ority to Christianity. 

The idea to let it alone in order to check its advance- 
ment should no longer be tolerated. While the church 
has up to this day assumed this position, in regard to it, it 
has steadily spread until it claims millions of converts. 

Did the great founder of the Christian church act thus 
in regard to sin and error ? Did he let them alone and 
teach this as the best course for his followers to pursue, 
believing it did " more harm than good" to expose and de- 
nounce them publicly ? Did he tell his disciples, when he 
sent them out to preach his gospel, to let error and " damna- 
ble heresies" alone ? Were they not to preach " Jesus and 
the resurrection," and does not the spiritualists deny that 
there is, or is to be, any resurrection, and, therefore, teach 
that Jesus is dead ? Is this using the talents which the 
great Master has put into our hands for the defense of 
truth ? Indeed, we are shocked at merely asking such 
questions, and all we will permit ourselves to say in regard 
to such a monstrous sentiment is, that if the devil ever in- 
vented one more effectually to accomplish his work and 
defeat that of Christ ; this, merits the patent, and those who 
teach and act on it may read their doom in advance, thus : 
" Take, therefore, the talent from him and cast the unprofit- 
able servant into outer darkness ; there shall be weeping 
and gnashing of teeth." 

Neither does it remedy the evil to say it is the devil 
who manifests his satanic arts through these spirits, for 
this is admitting the existence of supernatural spirits in 
connection with these phenomena, and which is also 
claimed by the spiritualists that wicked spirits sometimes 



149 

operate at their end of the spirit telegraph ; this admission 
is calculated to give a false dignity to these manifesta- 
tions ; men will go to witness the exploits even of the 
devil himself. But the remedy we propose, in order to 
effectually prevent its further mischief, is, in the first 
place, to meet its assumptions philosophically with the 
arguments science affords, which are fully calculated to ex- 
pose the sophistry and untenableness of its theory, and 
which course will satisfy the intelligent that there are no 
spirits connected with these manifestations. And in the 
second place, let every possible effort be made to obtain 
access to the spirit mediums, through whom the doctrines 
of the spherical heaven are taught, and when accom- 
plished, magnetize them to sleep, by which means they will 
be brought under the minds of those who thus effect them, 
and may be impressed with the opposite setiments to spir- 
itualism, and upon the same principle by which they had 
been inculcated by the spirit believers; let them then 
stand up before the same audiences who had heard them 
preach the spirit doctrines, and they will denounce them 
as eloquently as they had ever defended them, and as being 
founded in superstition and error, and in opposition vindi- 
cating the Bible and its sentiments. There is not a good 
medium but who is very susceptible of mesmerism, there- 
fore this task can be accomplished with great ease, and 
after having been effected a few times they imbibe the 
sympathies and sentiments of those who have thus mag- 
netized them. How clearly, therefore, does this simple 
process suggest an effectual exposition and refutation of 
the presumption that these mediums write and speak as 
they are dictated by supernal existences ; let this be done, 
and in less than six months the gigantic fabrication of spir- 
itualism will lose every vestige of hold on the minds of 
men. Of course this adds no argument in favor of the 
Bible, but only shows that it affords none against it ; that 
it proves nothing relating to the future state at all, but 
only relates the views of those who thus impress them at 



150 

the time. We close this argument by introducing a quota* 
tion from Pope's essay on Man, and which contains such a 
reproof to spiritualism that it would seem to have been 
written at the present day : 

"Know then thyself, presume not God to scan, 
The proper study of mankind is man — 
Placed on this isthmus of a middle state, 
A being darkly wise and rudely great ; 
With too much knowledge for the skeptic's side, 
With too much weakness for the stoic's pride, 
He hangs between in doubt to act or rest, 
In doubt to deem himself a god or beast, 
In doubt his mind or body to prefer, 
Born but to die, and reasoning but to err ; 
Alike in ignorance his reason such, 
Whether he thinks too little or too much, 
Chaos of thought and passion all confused, 
Still by himself abused or disabused : 
Created half to rise and half to fall, 
Great lord of all things, yet a prey for all, 
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled, 
The glory, jest and riddle of the world. 
Go, wondrous creature, mount where science guides, 
Go, measure earth, weigh air and state the tides, 
Instruct the planets in what orbs to run, 
Correct old Time and regulate the sun ; 
Go soar with Plato to the empereal sphere, 
To the first good, first perfect and first fair, 
Or tread the mazy round his fellows trod 
And quitting sense called imitating God. 
As eastern priests in giddy circles run, 
And turn their heads to imitate the sun. 
Go teach eternal wisdom how to rule, 
Then sink into thyself and be a fool ; 
Go, wiser thou, and in thy scale of sense, 
Weigh thy opinions against Providence. 
In pride, presumptuous pride, our error lies, 
All quit their sphere and rush into the skies, 
Pride, still aiming at the blessed abode, 
Men would be angels, angels would be gods, 
Aspiring to be gods, angels fell, 
Aspiring to be angels men rebel, 
And he who wishes to invert the laws 
Of order, sins against the eternal cause. " 



151 

We have endeavored to show that the claim of spiritual- 
ism, that it supersedes any further use or necessity for the 
Bible, is without force and utterly fails in its pretension. 
But in order to fully convince every candid mind that the 
so-called religion of spiritualism and which deifies only 
the spirits of the dead and pays its devotions upon their 
ghostly shrines and the religion of Christianity are per- 
fectly irreconcilable, and, therefore, those who embrace 
the one must abandon the other ; because it is upon funda- 
mental principles they differ, which will be apparent as we 
contrast the sentiments each inculcate in relation to the 
nature of future existence. 

However spiritualists differ among themselves upon 
almost every thing else, there is wonderful unanimity of 
sentiment relating to the nature of future existence, which 
is that that which dies of men remains dead forever, which 
is the body, and that which survives death lives forever ; 
the body being nothing but a carcass " to be got rid off/' 
and that man loses nothing by the death of the body. 

The doctrine of the future state of existence taught by 
Christianity is, that whatever condition the dead, or any 
thing appertaining to them in an intermediate state, is, 
merely temporary, and its eternal future commences at the 
resurrection of the dead, at the last day. By merely 
stating this doctrine of spiritualism, it is certain that it 
rejects absolutely the three fundamental principles of 
revealed Christianity. 

First, the resurrection of the dead ; secondly, the Bible 
which teaches it ; and, thirdly, the existence of Christ ; 
indeed, every thing in regard to Christianity depends upon 
the question, Is Christ dead or alive ? According to the 
spiritualists, that there is no resurrection, He is dead ; but, 
according to Christianity, as there is a resurrection of the 
dead, therefore, Christ is alive ; hence, this doctrine is the 
foundation truth of the Christian religion. Though the 
doctrine of the resurrection is everywhere taught in the 



152 

Bible, from Genesis to Revelations, yet it is so fully 
brought out and arranged in order in the 15th chapter 
of Paul's 1st epistle to the Corinthian church, that it 
will only be necessary to introduce a part of it, in order 
to have a perfect understanding of the nature of the 
doctrine. 

" Now, if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, 
how say some among you that there is no resurrection of 
the dead ? but if there be no resurrection of the dead, then 
is Christ not risen ; and if Christ be not risen, then our 
preaching is vain and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we 
are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified 
of God that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not up ; if 
so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not then 
is not Christ raised, and if Christ be not raised your faith 
is vain, ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which 
are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. " "But now is 
Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of 
them that slept, for since by man came death, by man came 
also the resurrection of the dead ; for as in Adam all die, 
even so in Christ shall all be made alive, but every man 
in his own order ; Christ the first fruits, afterward they 
that are Christ's at his coming." " But some man will say, 
how are the dead raised up, and with what body do they 
come? Thou fool, that which thou so west is not quick- 
ened except it die. (This is as much as though He had 
said a man was a fool to suppose a seed could grow unless 
it was first decomposed in the earth or died ; either that a 
man could have a resurrection who had not died, indeed, 
which is a contradiction in terms.) It (the body) is sown 
in corruption (in the grave), it is raised in incorruption ; 
it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory ; it is sown in 
weakness, it is raised in power ; it is sown a natural body, 
it is raised a spiritual body. Behold, I show you a mys- 
tery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed in 
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. 






153 

For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised 
incorruptible, and we shall be changed ; for this corrupti- 
ble must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on 
immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on 
incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortal- 
ity, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is 
written. Death is swallowed up in victory. O death! 
where is thy sting ? O grave ! where is thy victory ? 

We see by this revelation that the elements through 
which the resurrected pass, in emerging from death to life, 
consist in eternal vitality and hallowed investment, and 
in nowise proposes to change or destroy the material sub- 
stantiality of the man ; there are five of these elements 
which constitute the resurrection change. From corrupt- 
ible to incorruptible bodies ; from dishonorable to glorious 
bodies ; from weak to powerful bodies ; from natural to 
spiritual bodies ; from mortal to immortal bodies. 

Now, as there is but one of the elements entering into 
the resurrection body about which there is difference of 
opinion, namely, "the spiritual," we shall pass the others 
and only examine this one. We may say here those 
who desire to examine the subject fully discussed will 
find it in our large work just issued from the press, 
entitled " The philosophy of God and the World." 

The question now is, what is a spiritual body ? Mark it 
is not a bodiless spirit, or a spirit of any kind other than a 
spiritual body. It will be observed that the body which 
died and lived again, through all its contrasts, is the same 
body. "It" is sown a natural body. "It" is raised a 
spiritual body. The direct answer, however, to this 
question is, that the resurrection body is a spiritual body, 
because it is quickened into life by the spirit of God. In 
proof of this we need quote but the following passage in 
which it is so condensed, that in one verse we have the 
resurrection relationship of God, His spirit, Christ and His 
saints, forcibly and comprehensively brought to view. 



154: 

Rom. viii, 11 : " But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus 
from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from 
the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His 
spirit that dwelleth in you." Here we see that Christ's 
mortal body that died was quickened or made to live 
again an immortal body by the spirit of God, rendering it 
a spiritual body, and therefore, also, is the dead mortal 
bodies of those who sleep in Him, having had the spirit of 
God dwelling in them when they died to be quickened 
into life and immortality by the same spirit, and are, there- 
fore, spiritual bodies. From this teaching it is certain 
that the resurrection body of Christ was a spiritual body, 
and also, that it was the same body that died and lay in 
the grave, the contrast is not that it was a natural body 
before death and a mere spirit after and forever, for then 
there had been no resurrection of that which died, and as 
it is nonsense to talk about the resurrection of a thing or 
being who had never died ; therefore, there is no resur- 
rection, for no spirit, ghost, or God ever died, and could 
not, therefore, have risen from the dead ; and, if the body 
of Christ was a mere spirit after His resurrection, then the 
spiritualists are right, in saying there is no resurrection of 
the dead ; instead, however, of this being true, we shall 
find by His history subsequent to His resurrection, that it 
was the same identical body composed of flesh and bones 
that was crucified and was buried, that rose again, went 
into heaven and shall so come again, unchanged and un- 
changeable forever more, " Jesus Christ the same yester- 
day, to-day and forever." 

Early on the morning of the third day after Christ's 
crucifixion the two Marys were at the sepulcher to watch 
concerning the destiny of their dead master, and received 
the following information : " And the angel answered and 
said unto the women : fear not ye, for I know that ye seek 
Jesus, which was crucified ; He is not here, for He is risen 
as he said ; come, see the place where the Lord lay. And 



155 

go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the 
dead, and, behold, He goeth before you into Galilee ; there 
shall ye see Him ; lo, I have told you. And as they went, 
behold, Jesus met them, saying : All hail ! and they came 
and held Him by the feet, and worshiped Him/' Mat. xxviii. 
Here we see that it was the Lord Himself which had 
risen from the dead, and they held Him by the feet, thus 
submitting Himself to be tested by their sense of touch ; 
and which, if He had been a spirit, would immediately 
have been discovered. " And, as He thus spake, Jesus, 
Himself, stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them : 
Peace be unto you ! But they were terrified and affrighted, 
and supposed they had seen a spirit ; and He said unto 
them : Why are ye troubled, and why do thoughts arise in 
your hearts ? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is 
i", myself! Handle me and see ; for a spirit hath not flesh 
and bones as ye see me have ; and when He had thus 
spoken, He showed them His hands and His feet, and 
while they yet believed not, for joy, and wondered, He 
said unto them : Have ye any meat ? and they gave Him a 
piece of broiled fish, and of an honeycomb ; and He took 
it, and did eat before them." 

Here we see that He not only submitted Himself to the 
test of their senses of touch, hearing and sight, but, also 
to that of their reason and judgment. He ate food before 
them, which they knew a spirit could not do, in order to 
convince them that it was Him, Himself, and not a spirit, 
which stood before them, and holding daylight conversation ; 
and that He was not a spirit, as they supposed Him to be, 
we have His positive declaration : " For a spirit hath not 
flesh and bones as ye see me have." 

As the following passages are supposed to contain evi- 
dence that Jesus was a spirit after his resurrection, but 
which, of course, does not, for it would contradict the 
positive declaration of Christ, Himself, as we have seen ; 
but let us look at them. Luke xxiv, 30, 31 : " And it came 



156 

to pass, as He sat at meat with them, He took bread and 
"blessed it, and break and gave them, and their eyes were 
opened, and they knew Him, and He vanished out of their 
sight." Verses 15, 16: "While they communed together, 
and reasoned, Jesus, Himself, drew near (mark, it was not 
His spirit), and went with them; but their eyes were 
holden, that they should not know Him." 

The one of these passages explains the other. John, 
xx, 19 : " Then, the same day, at evening, being the first 
day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the 
disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus 
and stood in the midst of them, and said : Peace be unto 
you !" Now, what is there here to show that Jesus did not 
come in at the door, and which was opened for the pur- 
pose ? The idea is simply that, for fear of the Jews, their 
assembly was private or with closed doors, and which 
were only opened to let in their friends, and thus gave 
Jesus entrance. Such a course shows to what extremes 
men are driven to wrest the Scriptures into contradiction 
with themselves. 

But we go on with the argument that it was the very 
Christ that died, who rose again, and ascended into heaven, 
" Wherefore He (Christ) saith, when He ascended up on high, 
He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now 
that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended 
first into the lower parts of the earth ? (grave) ; He that 
descended is the same that ascended up far above all 
heavens." Eph. iv. Here we see that it is declared, as 
definitely as words will admit, that it was the same body 
that ascended into heaven that first descended into the 
grave and which was resurrected from it. The history of 
this ascension is recorded Acts ii, 9, 10, 11, and which shows 
he is to undergo no change forever. " And when He had 
spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up, 
and a cloud received Him out of their sight, and while they 
looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, 



157 

two men stood by tliem in white apparel, which also said, 
Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? 
this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven 
shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into 
heaven." 

But now let us consider what we are taught the con- 
sequences are, on the supposition of the non-resurrection 
of Christ. First. The preaching of the gospel is vain. 
Second. The faith of the Christian church is also vain, 
and hence, there is no salvation, because it is by faith men 
are saved, and Paul declares, " if Christ be not risen ye are 
yet in your sins." Third. The apostles were false wit- 
nesses. Fourth. They also which are fallen asleep in 
Christ are perished. Fifth. Christ is also dead. Now, 
what can be more positively taught than that, if there is no 
resurrection of the dead, then there is no truth or value in 
Christianity, its founder is dead and has thus perished, 
and, of course, those who sleep in Him are also equally 
perished, which would be a necessary consequence had it 
not been declared. If Christ is still dead, then the Holy 
Ghost has not come, for He said, " If I go not away the 
Comforter will not come." If Christ is still dead there is 
no mediation, and no way whereby a sinner may approach 
to God, and reconciliation is impossible. In a word, and 
oh, what a word of horror is it, Christ is dead and all is 
lost. " Let us eat and drink (as common animals) for to- 
morrow we die," and that is the last of us ; there is no 
falling back upon any other theory, or hope of a future 
state, all is lost and that forever. 

If, therefore, spiritualism is true, and there is no resur- 
rection of the dead, then is the system founded upon a 
dead Christ ; a sublime failure. But we turn with holy 
rapture from the horrible picture and sing with Dr. Young, 
over the ruins of the grave, who makes the living Christ 
exclaim : 



158 

"Then, then 1 rose, then first 
Humanity triumphant passed the 
Crystal ports of light, and seized 
Eternal youth. Hail, hail ! heaven 
All lavish of strange gifts to man. 
Thine's all the glory, man's the 
Boundless bliss." 

And with the great apostle of the Gentiles : " Now is 
Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of 
them that slept." 

But we close this argument by introducing the sublime 
description given by the revelator, who sees Him as he 
returns again to earth as He went up, when a cloud received 
Him out of the sight of men : Rev. i, " Behold, he cometh 
with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also 
which pierced him shall wail because of him." i, 11, 18: 
" Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last ; I 
am He that liveth and was dead ; and behold, I am alive 
forevermore, and have the keys of hell and death." xxi, 
6: "And he said unto me, it is done, I am Alpha and 
Omega, the beginning and the end." xxii, 13 : "I am Alpha 
and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the 
last." i, 8 : "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and 
the ending, saith the Lord, which is and which was, and 
which is to come, the Almighty." 

"After his resurrection, Jesus came and spake unto 
them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in 
earth " — Luke xxviii, 18. Therefore, He that was dead and 
had risen, was, from thenceforth the Lord Almighty, hold- 
ing in His hands all power in heaven and in earth, and to 
be wielded when it will be sung, " We give Thee thanks, 
O Lord, God, Almighty, because Thou hast taken to Thee 
Thy great power and hast reigned." 

It is certain that the Lord Almighty did not die, and was 
not therefore raised from the dead ; and was, therefore, the 
body in which He had incarnated Himself that thus died 
and rose again. It was that body which hung on the 



159 

cross, and which died in consequence of the withdrawment 
of God, thus expressed : " My God, my God, why hast Thou 
forsaken me ? and again He cried with a loud voice and 
yielded up the ghost " — Mat. xxviii. That God took this 
same body again from the dead, and this was its resurrec- 
tion, is positively declared in scores of passages of scrip- 
ture ; we only repeat one : Cor. xv, 15, " Yea, and we are 
found false witnesses of God, because we have testified 
that He raised up Christ whom He raised not up, if so be 
that the dead rise not." 

With such views of the resurrection body, how ridic- 
ulously absurd does the theory of the spiritualists appear 
that the human body is a mere carcass to be disposed 
of, containing so much corruption and elementary con- 
fusion that even its maker can appropriate it to no use 
in His future world, though it is the grandest display of 
divine mechanism the universe presents for contempla- 
tive reflection. Behold its eternal honors in the estimation 
of the great Deity, making it the house of His incarnation. 
" God manifest in the flesh." Yes, " For in Him (Christ) 
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily " — Col. ii, 9. 

As the 50th verse of the 15th of Cor. is supposed to 
contain an objection to the views of a spiritual body here 
presented, we shall consider it. " Now, this I say, breth- 
ren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of 
God ; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." The 
idea here taught is, that a body composed of flesh and 
blood is a corruptible body, and as such cannot inherit 
the kingdom of God any more than corruption can in- 
herit incorruption, as thus declared in the last member 
of the passage, but it does not say that flesh and bones 
cannot inherit the kingdom of God, for this was the 
formation of the spiritual body of Christ after his res- 
urrection, and if "Flesh and bones" cannot inherit the 
kingdom of God, then is Christ excluded from His own 
eternal kingdom. But the fact brought to view in this 



160 

passage is this, that the animal life blood which vitalizes 
the natural human body, chemically prepared by the action 
of the system from the food taken into it, and the air 
inhaled, is not the vitalizing principle of the resurrection 
body, but it is the spirit of God, as we have already shown, 
Christ spilt his blood for the sins of the world, and never 
resumed it again, and there is not a passage of Scripture 
which speaks of the resurrection body but as being blood- 
less, and, therefore, corruptless and immortal, spiritual and 
eternal. 

There is one other feature of Christianity which distin- 
guishes it from all other systems of religious belief and 
worship to which we wish to refer before leaving this part 
of our subject, which is, that while all others, including 
spiritualism, leaves man disintegrated at death, and pro- 
poses only to save a part of him, or that gives only a part 
existence in the eternal future ; Christianity proposes to 
save the whole man, spirit, soul, mind and body. Said 
the great resurrection Lord for the encouragement and 
hope of His saints, " Not one hair of your head shall 
perish, for I will raise it up at the last day. Luke xxi, 18. 

In the light in which our subject now stands, it cannot 
but be seen that Christianity and spiritualism are the most 
hostile and antagonistic systems which can possibly be 
contemplated, and that no man hereafter who has a mind, 
a shade above an idiot, can possibly make the mistake to 
suppose that he can be a spiritualist and a Christian both. 
" Choose ye this day whom ye will serve, Christ, the Lord/' 
or the idolatrous deities, entities, or spirits of the dead. 



161 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE ADVANTAGES OP THIS SCIENCE. 

Now, as this is a natural endowment, and, therefore, to> 
a greater or less degree possessed by every individual of 
our common race, it follows that it has its appropriate use, 
and, of course, like every other natural faculty may be 
abused, and, indeed, just as it is being prostituted in the 
present age by the spiritualists, and has been by the 
familiar spiritualism of all ages, and it becomes us to 
destroy their craft by explaining its mystery. 

Before entering upon the discussion of its advantages we 
wish to allude to an objection to the effect that if it is a 
natural endowment, why does the Bible contain laws and 
penalties for its suppression ? to which we answer : That it 
presents such marvelous features and phenomena, in- 
volving the necessity of such an elevated comprehension 
of human physiology, in order that it might be seen to be 
simply the results of the natural laws of human organiza- 
tion, and this knowledge being impossible in the earlier 
ages of the world, so that they might not be attributed to 
the intervention of the spirits of the dead and their sup- 
posed communications, instead of tracing their origin to the 
forces and powers crowded into the wonderful mechanism 
of created man ; hence, we see the propriety of its practice 
being prohibited by law ; but, with the light science and 
philosophy affords in our day, we venture the remark that 
no such laws or restraints would have been passed, because 
it only requires a careful investigation of the subject to 
convince even ordinary minds of the true source of its 
power and its benefits to the race ; and we submit, if this 
be so, if it is not a shame to have a mind so uncultivated 
that it cannot comprehend all the science and philosophy 

11 



162 

now known concerning it, and is it not a greater shame 
that any human being who has access to this light should, 
through ignorance and self-deception, choose to take the 
easy, indolent course which requires no thought and 
refers all its manifestations to the spirits of the dead. 

But, in regard to its usefulness, we remark : That by its 
agency almost every disease, which is not absolute organic 
destruction, may be cured, and, of course, without the use 
of medicine, but this great advantage, at present, is limited 
to those susceptible of this magnetic impressibility ; we 
mean that such can only receive the greatest benefits 
it proposes to accomplish, and, of course, it will readily be 
perceived that if in the future development of the art some 
process is discovered by which every one may be thus 
magnetized, then every one may be thus benefited. 

Not only may diseases be thus cured, but surgical oper- 
ations may be performed without producing the least pain. 
Teeth drawn, etc., and while the subjects are in their 
perfect senses, yet feel not a throb of pain ; and if it has 
been an amputation, the remaining part of the limb may 
be kept in a magnetized condition, for any part of the 
system may be magnetized, and no other, and heal more 
rapidly and without pain. 

Now, what is the philosophical principle upon which 
these healing effects are produced, and, we believe it to be 
just as philosophical as that medicine cures; indeed there 
can be no cure except upon the principles of nature and 
according to the laws of being ; and, we believe the de- 
finition unquestionably correct of cures effected even by 
miraculous power, that it is not done contrary to natural 
laws but in accordance with them. 

For instance, when Christ fed the multitude with a few 
loaves and fishes, He simply did, by an act of His will, 
what He had done in the creation of the first stock of 
wheat from seed ; He had collected and combined in the 
seed those chemical elements in the air, moisture and 



163 

soil, adapted to form a wheat seed, and, according to the 
Jaw of vegetation, endowed it with, the power to re-pro- 
duce seed after its kind, as food for men. So that from it 
He made bread indirectly. But on this occasion He makes 
bread directly, but upon the same natural and chemical 
principle. Again, collecting, by His knowledge and will, 
those same chemical elements from surrounding nature, 
and, in perfect accordance with those laws, they adhered 
to the loaves, which thereby enlarged or grew in the hands 
of those distributing and eating them. 

In regard to this philosophic principle of cure, we can 
say but little in this small book, and to do it justice re- 
quires a volume of itself, and which we may publish at 
some future day, and which proposes to explain the 
philosophy of those effects produced upon the physical 
system by the power of mere mental impression, which 
are so common and powerful that it gave rise to the old 
Scotch saying : " A thought will kill and a thought will 
cure." We remark, then, in the first place, that it is to 
the agency of animal electricity that the entire motions 
of the human system, both voluntary and involuntary, are 
to be attributed, even to the circulation of the blood ; that 
it is this force received from the brain by which the heart 
is made to expand and contract, thus giving it its power 
to force the circulation of the blood through all the rami- 
fications of the arterial and veinous system, and we have 
but little doubt but that the investigation of the electrical 
theory of the human system will yet discover that the 
relation between atmospheric inhalation and the circula- 
tion of the blood are so dependent on each other that the 
number of natural inhalations and pulsations will be 
found to be in exact proportion to each other. It is also 
true that the regular motions of the vital organs and the 
circulating fluids results in health, and, of course, their 
irregularity in disease ; and, therefore, any obstruction in 



164 

the circulating force is the direct cause of disease, and to 
remove that obstruction is the cure. 

In order to illustrate this curative principle, let us sup-* 
pose an individual to have taken cold, the consequence of 
which is, he has inflammation of the lungs, and the in- 
quiry is, how has this cold produced this effect? In 
attempting to answer this important question there are 
a number of things to be taken into the account. In the 
first place, we remark, that the human system is undergo- 
ing a continual change of decomposition and formation ; 
that is, there is a continual wear or waste of every part 
of the system by its natural action in the performance of 
their respective functions. 

Just as a steam engine wears away by use, this waste 
of matter is forced to the surface of the body, and from 
thence into the atmosphere through the pores of the skin, 
by the excretory vessels, called " insensible perspiration." 
Now, this waste material is being continually supplied 
from arterial blood, made by the system from the food 
taken into the stomach. It must also be understood that 
this decomposed matter, thus thrown off from the surface 
of the body, is poisonous to the system, and if its escape 
is obstructed, it is again forced by the action of the cir- 
culating organs and fluids through the system , and as 
every organ resists it with all the power it possesses, it 
follows that it will locate on that one which at the time is 
the weakest, and every man has his weakest organ, 
because this organ has less power to throw it off. In this 
case we will suppose the lungs of the individual to be his 
weakest organ, and the result is, that this matter, with its 
charge of virus, locates on them, and the individual has 
inflammation of the lungs. There is another fact here to 
be understood, that when the cold was taken the individual 
had a chill, and this chill was at the moment the pores of 
the skin were closed ; indeed, the chill was the immediate 
effect, and this prevented the poisonous matter from 



165 

escape ; and here we see how it is that disease is caused 
by taking cold. We also see how it is that almost every 
disease results from colds, the only condition being as to 
what disease it is, that the poisonous matter when thus 
prevented from making its natural escape, and again thus 
forced among the vital organs locates upon that which is 
the weakest, and which thus becomes the seat of the 
disease. 

This brings us to the question, how may diseases be cured 
by this electric human power ? We answer, first, that as 
it is by the animal electricity that all the fluids of the 
system and its organic motions are carried on, as well as its 
voluntary motions, and if I have the control of all this 
force of the system of another, and, of course, can send 
any amount of it anywhere I please in that system, and 
therefore upon the lungs, and from thence to the surface 
of the body, and through the excretory vessels into the 
atmosphere, and as it carries with it the virus from the 
lungs into the air, that the inflammation, the result of the 
poisonous matter, is cured, and this can be done in as short 
a space of time as I have been writing the process, and I 
will add, that I have done this very thing, and thus cured 
inflammation ; and I may add, that if medicine can cure 
such a case it must be of that chemical nature which 
qualifies it to produce the double effect, first of dispersing 
the virus from the lungs and forcing its escape through 
the operation of " insensible perspiration/' which it has 
restored. 

We will introduce another case to illustrate this method 
of curing diseases, and it will be one of palsy. Here, then, 
we have a man who has had a shock of palsy, and one side 
of his voluntary system is perfectly helpless ; if it is the 
right side then the left hemisphere of his brain proper, 
that is of the cerebrum, is in a spasm, and this being the 
source of the voluntary nerves by which man moves his 
limbs, and now the electric agency of the mind being thus 



166 

shut off, the man may will and will forever and the limbs 
cannot obey, not because there is any thing the matter 
with the limbs themselves, but simply the electric force, 
the appropriate agency under the control of the will, is 
shut off. Now, suppose I have the absolute control of the 
whole electric force possessed by an individual affected 
with paralysis, is it not certain that I can force a sufficient 
amount of it through the brain to take it out of this tonic 
spasm, or whatever it may be called, and immediately the 
man wills and his limbs obey and he is cured. And here 
again I say I have done this very thing, or that of the same 
character and still more difficult : It was that of a young 
lady who had never walked but by the aid of crutches, 
and who was about fifteen years of age, and was made to 
walk perfectly well and strong as any one in less than fif- 
teen minutes' time. If a man is deaf the auditory nerves 
are obstructed, so that they cannot be made to vibrate by 
sound struck upon the drum of the ear ; now force the 
electricity through them, removing the obstruction, and 
the hearing is restored. This we have also done in a few 
moments and upon many individuals. 

Another of the advantages of this art and science is, that 
these impressible subjects are able to examine and accu- 
rately describe the nature and location of diseases, no mat- 
ter how complicated they may be, and if this is true then 
every physician should have access to one in order to 
examine his patients before prescribing for them, so that 
no more mistakes may be made and men die because their 
disease was not understood. And especially is such ability 
inestimable in the detection of such diseases as the " con- 
cretion of the appendix " which requires the most skillful 
surgical operation to remove, if, indeed, it can be done at 
all, and which is certain death unless thus removed ; and 
as it offers but slight hopes of recovery, the hazard is too 
great to be undertaken unless it is certain the disease 



1G7 

exists, and the symptoms are too various to render it so in 
every instance. 

Now from what we have said of the ability of these 
mind-readers, it is absolutely certain that they must see 
the impressions transcribed on the organic brain, and, if so, 
does it not follow as a natural consequence that they can 
also, with much greater ease, see and describe the derange- 
ment and disease of any mere vital organ of the human 
system. That they are thus qualified we here relate a 
single instance of scores of others as the results of our 
own experiments. This was in Belfast, Me. . The name of 
this subject was George Frost, and with him I made a 
great many wonderful experiments. " A man came into 
our rooms in a hotel in that place, and wished for an exam- 
ination, and he was so skeptical that he would not even 
tell his name. The two then sat facing each other, Frost 
holding the man by the hand ; he now made a long in- 
spection looking into his body, as a mechanic would inspect 
a machine which was out of order, occupying about twenty 
minutes, the latter part of which was spent in putting 
him into a peculiar attitude in which he was made to lean 
forward and a little to one side, and with one hand raised 
higher than the other and in front. Not a word had yet 
been spoken, but now, said Frost, " You cut grave stones, 
your lungs are affected and it has been produced by the 
attitude in which I have placed you, and which oppresses 
your lungs, and you must give up the business or it will 
kill you." He went on to describe all the particulars of his 
case, of which these are the leading features. The man then 
said he was right, and also that his business was a grave 
stone carver, and that he had given it up as he believed 
it injured him. Of course he was no more skeptical but 
humble enough, and knew that the man in contact with 
him could read his entire system. He inquired if Frost 
could recommend any thing for his relief, but got no 
reply. 



168 

It may be said, indeed, that Frost read the impressions 
from the mind of this man, but if he did it was from his 
physical brain and which, as we have before remarked, 
was much more difficult to see, read and describe than 
simply to see and describe the condition of the lungs. But 
this Frost would not only describe organic disease, but also 
tell the patient what he, himself, thought of it, and 
whether he was right or wrong, and it was more common 
for him to oppose their impressions concerning themselves 
than to confirm them, thus also showing him to have been 
independent of the thoughts and impressions of other 
minds in the prosecution of such examinations. 

But we bring our little work to a close, wishing only to 
make it small so as to secure for it a large circulation, and 
believing the subject of such vital interest to the commu- 
nity, who seem eagerly waiting for information concern- 
ing this most important, although the most complicated, 
department of the works of God, at least connected with 
our world ; and it seems to us that the man who manifests 
no interest in such a subject has no sympathy either for 
the physical or religious well-being of mankind . 



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